Kolkata (AsiaNews) – No to the death penalty and above all to abortion “the greatest destroyer of peace”, is the response of Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity, Sr. Nirmala Joshi. The religious sister, who gathered the reins blessed from Mother Teresa, lends her full support to the idea of a global moratorium on abortion, as a logical consequence to the recently reached moratorium on capital punishment.  Commenting on the initiative to AsiaNews, she recalls Mother Teresa’s dedication to denouncing to the entire world, the injustices and dangers that are hidden behind this practise.    

“The culture of life loves life and protects life, promoting love, beauty, joy and peace – says Sr. Nirmala - The culture of death destroys life and sows hatred, discord and unhappiness…..The choice is ours”. To try and stem the widespread phenomenon of abortion in the India, the sisters of Mother Teresa have opened centres where they welcome single mothers or those in difficulty.  The sisters also support International adoption programmes.

The protection of life, from the moment of conception, was one of the Blessed main battles.  During the UN conference on population and development, held in Cairo in 1994, Mother Teresa denounced the use of the death penalty and abortion to the entire world.  “The only one who has the right to take life is the one who has created it.  Nobody else has hat right, not the mother, not the father, not the doctor, no agency, no conference, no government”. Sr. Nirmala recalls that for Mother Teresa abortion “is the worst evil and the greatest destroyer of peace, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?” 

Already in 1979, in her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo, Norway Mother Teresa came out against the hypocrisy of the many “who worry about the plight of babies born in Africa and India because of hunger and other causes, but not about the millions dying deliberately by the will of the mother”.  Speaking to delegates there she recalled the dedication of the MC: “We are fighting abortion by adoption, we have saved thousands of lives, we have sent words to all the clinics, to the hospitals, police stations — please don't destroy the child, we will take the child, tell them come, we will take care of you, we will take the child from you, and we will get a home for the child”.