+ In Memoriam: Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, pro-lifer +

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.

Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo died yesterday at age 72, God rest his noble soul. He was born in 1935 in Villahermosa, Colombia, ordained a priest in 1960, ordained a bishop in 1971 and proclaimed a cardinal in 1983.

As president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Lopez T. was a beacon and a leader in the worldwide cause of the right to life. Eloquent and fearless, he challenged the anti-lifers with profound pro-life and Catholic truth.

Cardinal Alfonso Lopez T. was a model of the priestly pro-lifer that every member of the hierarchy and of the clergy should be and needs to be.

Listen to the following excerpt from an address the Cardinal gave (click on this post's title) in London in 1996 on the first anniversary of Pope John Paul II's great encyclical letter, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life):

"Many fine young people are involved in the pro-life movement. More young people need to be involved, with their energies, their enthusiasm and their imagination. Pro-life education for children and young people must become a priority, as the Holy Father stresses in Evangelium Vitae, 97.

"Young people and their energies lead me to conclude with a reflection about a brave young man. Outside my study, in the offices of the Pontifical Council for the Family in the Vatican, I have set up a bronze statuette of the shepherd boy who became King David. He is putting the sword back into its sheath having cut off the head of Goliath the Philistine. The head rests beneath his feet. I deliberately chose that statue to be a sign to all who work in and with our pontifical Council for the Family. The message is clear. In fighting for life, for the family, we face a giant Goliath, that Philistine culture of death, with all its wealthy foundations, its powerful political and business connections and its propaganda agents.

"Like David, we have a few small stones and a slingshot, or so our limited resources often seem to us when we face such powerful forces. But we have God with us, the same God who guided David's smooth stone to its mark. Like David the shepherd boy, we are not afraid, because we know that the Lord of Life is with us. We know that we can bring down that evil Goliath! We must bring him down and we will!

"What is most important for the pro-life movements is to work for a civilization of life—in the family, in the schools, in the Parliaments. Life, the precious gift of God is a Gospel, good news! There is a unity between the Gospel of Life and the Gospel of the Family.

"We must—love life, defend life, proclaim life!

"At the heart of this proclamation is the Lord of Life, who died and who now lives and reigns for ever!"

Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, we loved you in life and we will always remember you and your great-hearted good example of a priest and pro-lifer. In Heaven, please intercede for babies, families, the pro-life cause and Holy Mother Church! May your soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen!