VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI has sent a Twitter message expressing his solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of people marching in America this week for a culture of life and an end to abortion.

“I join all those marching for life from afar, and pray that political leaders will protect the unborn and promote a culture of life,” he tweeted Jan. 25.

From coast to coast, pro-life marches and rallies in America continue to mark the week of Jan. 22 as the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade — the Supreme Court decision that effectively legalized abortion throughout the nation.

San Francisco's Walk for Life West Coast on Jan. 26 will be attended by Archbishop Carlo Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

The March for Life in Washington is occurring today, Jan. 25, and has drawn hundreds of thousands of participants.

Bishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, told CNA Jan. 23,“These marches for life that are taking place across the United States are very important, not only for the country, but for the whole world.”

“These events which favor human life without limits, from conception until the end, have become a very important historical reference for all other Catholic countries worldwide,” he added.

“And if we talk about the Vatican as another face of the Church, then we can say the Church supports these marches in the whole world because the participants are the Church themselves.”

Pope Benedict's tweets reach 2.5 million followers. He tweets in nine languages, English, Spanish, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Latin.