More than 120,000 people gathered for a pro-life, pro-family parade in Arequipa, Peru, the country’s second-largest city, on April 15.
According to Catholic News Agency, the Parade for Life and Family, which has taken place every year since 2006, was organized by the group CORVIDA. This year’s theme was, “For the most valuable thing we have: life and family; we give our all!”
Guadalupe Valdez, president of CORVIDA, said that the parade is “a celebration that seeks to affirm, promote, and protect the value of every person and every human life.”
“The crises that we have gone through in recent years have shown us that the institution in which we find the greatest support in times of difficulty is the family,” she said. “This Corso is not against anyone, it is a celebration that on the contrary seeks to affirm, promote and protect the value of every person and every human life.”
In an effort to promote families, event organizers featured many different families on the parade’s Facebook page in the weeks leading up to the event.
Speaking to attendees was the archbishop of Arequipa, Javier Del Río Alba.
“It’s a joy to reencounter families, young people, adults, children, mothers in these groups that entered the parade that say yes to life in our dear Arequipa, after two years of not being able to do it like this in person,” he said. “It is very encouraging to see that thousands upon thousands celebrate the gift of life and family.”
According to the event’s organizers, the parade lasted more than three hours and consisted of civil, cultural, and artistic associations; municipalities; educational institutions and workshops; health clinics, artisan guilds, private companies and institutions that work for children, women, and the family.
The CORVIDA organization is composed of the Life and Family Association, Doctors for Life, Ethics and Law, Pro-Woman and Human Rights, Project Hope, Young Life, Communication and Dialogue, the citizen’s platform Let’s Save Them Both, and other groups.
