Toronto cardinal condemns abortion, IVF, contraception, euthanasia ahead of Canada’s March for Life

(LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Frank Leo delivered a strong pro-life message before the 29th annual Canadian National March for Life on May 14 in Ottawa, reiterating the Catholic Church’s full opposition to abortion, IVF, artificial birth control, and euthanasia.

“As faithful pro-lifers from across the country prepare to meet on Parliament Hill, I would like to encourage you and reflect together on the witness we are to bear to the inviolable dignity of human life,” wrote Cardinal Leo, who serves as the Archbishop of Toronto.

Cardinal Leo said that “Jesus reveals that authentic freedom is found not in self-assertion detached from truth but in self-gift rooted in love (Evangelium Vitae, 96; CCC 1733).”

“To follow our Lord is an invitation to see reality as God sees it – especially the dignity of human life – to banish false gods, self-deception, and live life to its fullest (cf. Jn 10:10),” he added. 

The cardinal noted that the dignity of human life as God and the Church see it has “profound implications when considering issues such as abortion, in vitro fertilization (IVF), artificial conception and euthanasia.”

“Each of these reflects a broader cultural tendency to place human control at the centre of life’s beginning and end,” he wrote.

Cardinal Leo said that when it comes to abortion, it “asserts a right to decide whether a life is worthy to continue (CCC 2270; Didache, 2, 2).”

“IVF, while often motivated by a deep desire for children, treats human life as a product rather than a gift that is received, and tears asunder the miracle of life,” he added.

Regarding contraception, Cardinal Leo said that “artificial birth control denies a crucial dimension of the very profound meaning of married sexuality and harms the unity in which the couple is called to nourish as it undermines the total, mutual gift of two persons in its integrity, separating, as it were, the unitive and procreative ends of marriage.”

He then talked about euthanasia, which has become rampant in Canada, saying it “presents death as a solution to suffering, suggesting that some lives are no longer worth living (Iura et Bona, II; CCC 2277).”

Cardinal Leo said that Canadians gathering at the March for Life in Ottawa on May 14 is a sign that we “stand firmly, yet compassionately, for the sacrosanct dignity of every human person from conception to natural death (Evangelium Vitae, 57).”

“It is to affirm the fundamental truth that life is not ours to create or destroy at will, but a sacred trust given to us by God. This stance is not merely a set of prohibitions; it is a coherent vision of love and true freedom – one that recognizes each human being as willed for his or her own sake and called to live in God (Gaudium et Spes 24).”

Organizing Canada’s March for Life is Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), which stated that the event marks Canada’s 1969 Day of Infamy when the Liberal government’s Omnibus Bill unleashed legal abortion on the nation.

The theme of this year’s March for Life is “Follow Me,” a reference to Jesus’s call in Matthew 4:19 to His disciples: “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Full details on the March, including exact dates, times, and locations, can be found on the National March for Life website.