On the sidelines of the general audience in St. Peter’s Square on March 22, 2023, Pope Francis blessed a bell for the defense of life, which will be sent to Zambia. The Pontiff also used this moment to encourage the protection of human life "from conception to natural death.”
The initiative was organized by the Polish foundation “Yes to Life.” In fact, in greeting the Polish faithful the Pope also mentioned the "Day of the Sanctity of Life,” which is celebrated in the country on March 25, feast of the Annunciation, the day when the Son of God became man in the womb of the Virgin.
In this context, the Pontiff blessed and rang the bell, which symbolizes “the voice of the unborn.”
The Pope expressed his hope that the sound of this large bell, measuring over a meter in diameter and weighing one ton, will carry “the message that every life is sacred, every life is inviolable.”
He underlined "the need to protect human life from conception to natural death." Archbishop Alick Banda of Lusaka, capital of Zambia, was also present at the audience. Now the bell will travel to various locations across his country.
This is the fourth such bell that the Pontiff has blessed. The first, in 2020, was installed in Poland. The bells of 2021 and 2022 were sent to Ecuador and Ukraine.
The objects are made in the Polish foundry of Jan Felczyński, which produced bells for parishes around the world and was established in 1808 in the town of Przemyśl.
