Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, addressed participants in the National Prayer Vigil for Life Jan. 22
WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands of pro-life advocates descended on the March for Life demonstrating their strong motivation to give witness to the importance of protecting the right to life for the unborn. This year’s march stressed the theme “Life is a Gift.”
For Catholics attending the march from all corners of the U.S., the motivations were as strong as ever.
At St. Jude Parish in Waltham, Massachusetts, the bus ride of 30 parishioners of all ages is “a real pilgrimage,” parochial vicar Jeremy St. Martin, who leads it, told OSV News. The bus left on Jan. 22, arriving 22 hours later — praying the Liturgy of the Hours along the way — at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington at 8 a.m. on Jan. 23, the day of the March for Life.
“We don’t stop for breakfast or anything. Everyone knows it’s a pilgrimage,” he said.
Hallie Millerbernd, a senior nursing student at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, said this is her third March for Life. The multi-bus pilgrimage from there takes 60 nonstop hours, making it a real test of endurance.
She said the sight of “thousands of people of all ages carrying signs with different colored hats, singing songs and chanting” inspired her. “It also showed me that there was hope for change and that there was a large movement against abortion.”
Prior to the march, March for Life president Jennie Bradley Lichter and U.S. Vice President JD Vance were among the speakers who addressed the crowd.
At the annual National Prayer Vigil for Life Jan. 22-23, preceding the March for Life, Bishop James D. Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, said, “While continuing to work to change laws to protect the unborn and support pregnant women in need, “we need to redouble our efforts to continue building, in the words of St. John Paul II, ‘a culture of life and a civilization of love.’”
“We need to continue to pray and work to change hearts,” he said in his homily at the opening Mass.
Jan. 22 is also observed by Catholics in the U.S. as the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. The date recalls the U.S. Supreme Court’s Jan. 22, 1973, decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, which legalized abortion nationwide as a constitutional right until the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.
“As it has often been said that in the end, ‘The measure of a society is how well it treats its weakest members,’” Bishop Conley said. “Only God can change hearts, but we know that God listens and answers the prayers of His people.”
Young pro-life advocates displayed signs during the 53rd annual March for Life rally in Washington Jan. 23.
The bishop had a special message for the hundreds of young people — from grade school to high school to college — in the congregation of about 6,500, who filled to overflowing the Upper Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.
“My dear young people, you are the pro-life generation,” he said. “I have said to young people in my diocese, young people of your generation, that I firmly believe that 50 years from now, when my generation will have gone to God, your grandchildren will ask you, ‘Is it true that when you were my age, they put children to death in the womb?’”
“Our goal is not only to make abortion illegal. Our goal is to make abortion unthinkable!” he said.
In his words of welcome, Cardinal Robert E. McElroy of Washington thanked the thousands of pilgrims, “especially the young people,” who traveled “far and wide,” to come to pray and witness to the dignity of human life from conception to natural death.
Bishop Conley said that the bishops also teach there are other very “grave threats to the life and dignity of the human person, including euthanasia, gun violence, terrorism, the death penalty, and human trafficking.”
But he lamented the fact that “there are still over a million abortions each year in our country — mostly through chemical and non-surgical means.”
Bishop Conley said that “no matter what happens politically, we — as Catholics — must always be here to lovingly serve women and to help them welcome new life.” He said one way the Church does that is through the Walking with Moms in Need initiative, through which participating Catholic parishes around the country provide services, support “and accompaniment to vulnerable pregnant and parenting mothers.”
Pope Leo sends ‘warm greetings,’ apostolic blessing to participants
On the eve of the 2026 March for Life in Washington, Pope Leo XIV issued a message to participants, expressing his deep gratitude for their “eloquent public witness” and imparting his apostolic blessing.
“I send warm greetings to those of you participating in the 2026 March for Life,” said the pope in a message released by the Holy See Jan. 22, observed by Catholics in the U.S. as the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children.
A pro-life advocate held a banner during the 53rd annual March for Life rally in Washington Jan. 23.
On Jan. 23, tens of thousands are set to rally in the nation’s capital for the gathering, which has been held annually since 1974 to protest the broad legalization of abortion under the prior year’s Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton Supreme Court decisions.
The march has continued following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the Roe and Doe rulings and returned the issue of abortion from the federal to the state level.
In his message, the pope expressed his “heartfelt appreciation” to march participants.
Quoting his Jan. 9 address to Holy See-accredited diplomats, the pope assured the marchers “of my spiritual closeness as you gather for this eloquent public witness to affirm that ‘the protection of the right to life constitutes the indispensable foundation of every other human right.’
“Indeed, ‘a society is healthy and truly progresses only when it safeguards the sanctity of human life and works actively to promote it,’” said Pope Leo, continuing to quote his Jan. 9 address.
“With these sentiments I entrust all of you, as well as those who support you with their prayers and sacrifices, to the intercession of Mary Immaculate, Patroness of the United States of America, and I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of abundant heavenly graces,” said Pope Leo.
— Gina Christian, OSV News contributed to this story.
