"Life with Dignity, Preferential Option for the Poor" is the theme of the Week of Life being celebrated in Portugal, at the request of the local Bishops‘ Conference. It will conclude on Sunday, May 17th.
 
The goal, say the bishops, is "to recall the need to fight against abortion and euthanasia, and to pay more attention to poverty, disease, or to families in need." Today—said Luis Reis Lopes, director of the National Department of Family Ministry—we see that human dignity is called into questioned. Therefore, in line with the Church‘s doctrine, we pay special attention to situations of poverty, illness, need and also to children, in order to promote the culture of life and counter the culture of death."
Many initiatives are taking place during this week, in various dioceses, to celebrate the event that—Lopes insists—"is also a commitment to solving problems." If, the director of the Department stresses, "abortion is an attack on life, which must be defended in all its forms,” at the same time we have to "give greater dignity to the family, so that it may be respected and valued, and have the capacity to oppose all forms of violence that exist in society."