SW News: One of the highlights of Pope Francis’ General Audience on Wednesday, October 27 at St Peter’s Square was the presence of two large bells. Titled ‘Voice of the Unborn’, the bells will be sent to Ecuador and Ukraine by Polish pro-life Zyciu Tak Foundation where they will be rung to remind people of the sanctity of life.

Following the request of Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mikrzycki of Lviv in Ukraine, and Archbishop Luis Cabrera Herrera of Ecuador, the Holy Father blessed the bells after which he rang them.

His Holiness asked all Poles to pray for the unborn and said, “At the request of the Polish foundation, today I consecrated the bells that will be donated to Ecuador and Ukraine. May they be a sign of mobilization for these nations and for all to defend human life from conception until natural death. Let their sound proclaim to the world the Gospel of life. I entrust to your prayers every conceived child whose life, given by God, is holy and inviolable. I bless you from the bottom of my heart.”

Through the Voice of the Unborn, the foundation aims to remind people of the evil of abortion and the need to protect human life. The bells were cast in the foundry of Jan Felczynski in Przemysl. On the outer surface of the bells is an engraving of the DNA symbolizing the genetic code of the parents and an ultrasound scan of a baby is also embossed. The bells also depict tablets that stand for the Ten Commandments and they have the words ‘You Shall Not Kill’.

According to Bogdan Romaniuk, vice-president of the Polish foundation, pro-life supporters in Ecuador and Ukraine requested them to send them the symbolic bells. In Ukraine, the bell will be stationed in the parish of St John Paul II in Lviv while the one destined for Ecuador will be placed in the Archdiocese of Guayaquil. In Ukraine, the bell will be taken in a special truck from one diocese to another where people will be invited to ring them to express solidarity with the unborn.

Bogdan has expressed hope that other countries will also follow in the footsteps of Ecuador and Ukraine and request bells to spread the pro-life message.