FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: October 25, 2011
CONTACT: Stephen Phelan 540-622-5270 – SPhelan@hli.org – www.hli.org

SÃO PAOLO, Brazil—The Benedictine Monastery of São Bento will host the Second International Congress for Truth and Life sponsored by Human Life International (HLI) from November 3-6, 2011. The event brings together pro-life speakers from Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and the United States to discuss issues threatening the Culture of Life in Latin America and around the world, including abortion, demographic decline and the moral decay of society.

Several of HLI’s international pro-life missionaries will address the Congress: HLI President Father Shenan J. Boquet, HLI Regional Coordinator for Spanish-Speaking Nations Mario Rojas, HLI Regional Coordinator for Portuguese-Speaking Nations Raymond de Souza, and Father Juan Carolos Chavez, director of HLI’s Spanish language outreach to priests and seminarians, REDESSIVIDA.

“Human Life International is proud to sponsor the upcoming International Congress for Truth and Life in Brazil,” said Fr. Boquet. “As the name suggests, this Congress is not only dedicated to the protection of life, but to the promotion of truth, especially as it concerns God’s teachings on human dignity and the Gospel of Life.”

Some of the objectives of the Congress include: Sharing experiences on the defense of life in Brazil and the world; Discussing the deeper aspects concerning the defense of human life and the defense of the family; Reporting on the numerous pressures against human dignity in the region and around the world; and promoting dialogue and cooperation between pro-life and pro-family organizations.

To help spread its important pro-life message, people from all over the world will be able to follow the entire proceedings of Congress live online.

“In promoting this pro-life event, we recall the teachings of Blessed John Paul II in Evangelium Vitae,” said HLI’s Mario Rojas, sharing an excerpt of the late Holy Father’s seminal encyclical:

“This [present] situation with its lights and shadows, ought to make us all fully aware that we are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the ‘culture of death’ and the ‘culture of life.’ We find ourselves not only ‘faced with’ but necessarily ‘in the midst of’ this conflict: we are all involved and we all share in it, with the inescapable responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life.”

For more information, visit the Congress website (in Portuguese) at: www.congressoprovida.com.br