At his Wednesday audience, Pope Francis welcomed Polish pilgrims who brought him another “Voice of the Unborn” bell to be blessed. The bell is part of an initiative that is sending similar bells all over the world to remind of the importance of protecting human life from conception until natural death.
The “Voice of the Unborn” initiative was launched by the Polish-based Yes to Life Foundation of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the John Paul II Vatican Foundation, Yes to Life was spurred into action by the organization’s president, Bogdan Romaniuk, who became very troubled by 2019 reports of the prevalence of abortion worldwide:
“Over 42 million children worldwide are killed as a result of abortions each year. After reading this information on one of the websites in December 2019, I proposed to the board of the ‘Yes to Life’ foundation of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, making a bell in the bell foundry of Jan Felczyński in Przemyśl,” reported Vice President Romaniuk.
The Foundation has been casting bells ever since, with the first bell presented to the Pope in 2020. Two more bells were made in 2022 and were sent to Ukraine and Ecuador, with a fourth sent to Zambia in 2023. The 2024 bell, featured in the video above, is destined for Kazakhstan.
At the audience, Pope Francis commented that, "The Holy Spirit always raises us to a higher level of selfless and practical love towards the poor, the sick and the vulnerable, such as conceived children." Then he greeted the Yes To Life Foundation and rang the bell with two Polish children from the group. He praised the initiative, stating that the bells will “serve as a reminder of the importance of protecting human life from conception to natural death.”
Each of the bells are cast in Poland, and bear the text of the 5th Commandment – “Thou Shalt Not Kill” – along with a quote from Blessed Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko, who said: "The child's life begins under the mother’s heart."
The Yes to Life Foundation has stated that it intends to distribute “Voice of the Unborn” bells to every country in the world.
