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Over 20,000 pilgrims from around the United States will pray for an end to abortion before the annual March for Life
The National Prayer Vigil for Life will be held this afternoon through tomorrow
morning, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception. The Vigil marks the 44th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme
Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions legalizing abortion
nationwide. Since those decisions, over 57 million abortions have been
performed legally in the United States.
The principal celebrant and homilist at
the Vigil Opening Mass will be Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York,
chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities. It will
be concelebrated by his fellow cardinals and many of the nation’s
bishops and priests in the Basilica’s Great Upper Church. The Vigil
continues overnight in the Crypt Church with confessions, a National
Rosary for Life, Byzantine Rite Night Prayer, and holy hours led by
seminarians from across the country from 11 p.m.- 6 a.m.
“Each year, the National Prayer Vigil for
Life is a joyful, if sober, event, with thousands of young people from
around the country. Led by our bishops, we are working to end abortion
through prayer, education, advocacy, and acts of mercy,” said Deirdre
McQuade, assistant director for pro-life communications at the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
“This beautiful night of prayer also falls within the bishops’ annual prayer and action campaign, 9 Days for Life,
which covers a range of life issues,” McQuade continued. “Ours is an
abortion-wounded nation, and so we pray, too, for healing for mothers,
fathers, grandparents, siblings, and others who are suffering in any way
after abortion.”
On the day of the March for Life, January 27, the Basilica will host Morning Prayer in the Crypt Church at 6:30 a.m., and then the Vigil’s Closing Mass at 7:30 a.m. in the Great Upper Church, with Archbishop Aymond of New Orleans as principal celebrant and homilist.
The National Prayer Vigil for Life is
co-sponsored by the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities of the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the Basilica of the
National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and The Catholic
University of America.
For more details on the overnight National Prayer Vigil for Life and other Washington, DC, Roe v. Wade events, visit www.usccb.org/about/pro-life-
To join thousands nationwide in prayer and action during the U.S. bishops’ annual pro-life novena, January 21-29, visit www.9daysforlife.com.
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