Pro-Life Day was celebrated on Sunday 25 April in Lithuania. The message published by the Lithuanian bishops to mark the occasion expresses their “sorrow about the constant demographic crisis and the lack of an appropriate state policy in favour of the family”. The bishops also declare that “the deepest problem is the devaluation of the human person, caused by the State that considers the family as a problem instead of helping it to overcome its problems”. The bishops then turn their attention to so-called “difficult maternities”, for which “the attitude of the community is very important”. The Lithuanian bishops further encourage families to “join in associations to counter the negative pressure of society”. “Families concludes the message must return with faith to God, if they are to become a domestic Church”. This year also marks the 4th centenary of the arrival in Lithuania of the Brief of Pope Clement VIII “Quae ad sanctorum,” which authorises the celebration of the feast of St. Casimir in Poland and Lithuania. A solemn commemoration of the event will be held in Vilnius, the capital, on 9 May, in the presence of the papal envoy, Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.
