MEXICO CITY — Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City recently baptized 21 children between the ages of 2 and 6 who were saved from abortion.

According to the news service of the Archdiocese of Mexico City, Cardinal Rivera presided at the ceremony with the friends and family members of the children, as well as with members of the National Pro-Life Committee, who reached out to the mothers to help them continue with their pregnancies.

The event took place at the local parish of Our Lady of Peace on Nov. 27.

During his homily, Cardinal Rivera spoke of the responsibility parents and godparents have to raise and educate their children, and he stressed that now that their physical lives have been saved, it is equally important to tend to their spiritual lives. 

“The word of God will give these children the strength for their journey through life,” he said.

He encouraged the parents and godparents to “lead your children to the Eucharist. Only by being nourished in God will they find eternal life.”

The National Pro-life Committee called the celebration a sign of hope in a city “in which, unfortunately, according to official statistics, more than 80,000 babies have been killed in the womb at maternity and infant hospitals in the Federal District.”

The president of the committee, Jorge Serrano Limon, said the baptism of the 21 children is “a blessing, an honor and an enormous joy.”