Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has started sending letters to pregnant women in the Russian, urging them to give birth instead of having an abortion, state media reported Monday.
Letters are being given out in the church’s St. Alexis Metropolitan of Moscow Hospital, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing organizer Natalia Moskvitina. It comes amid Russia’s wide-ranging efforts to address the country’s demographic crisis by promoting early childbirth and large families.
Moskvitina said in October that pregnant women would begin receiving Patriarch Kirill’s letters at participating state-run women’s counseling clinics in 16 Russian regions, excluding Moscow.
The church leader’s letter is part of a “folder of support” to pregnant women, which includes letters from regional governors, local dioceses and a list of financial support measures extended to new mothers.
“You’re now experiencing a special time when a great miracle of God is taking place: a new person is being prepared to come into the world,” Patriarch Kirill’s letter reportedly reads.
“Waiting for the birth of a child is always filled with both anxiety and joy. But as our Lord Jesus Christ says, ‘Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.’”
Moskvitina claimed that her project, called “Hello, Mama!,” helped decrease abortions by 42% in the republic of Mordovia when it was piloted there in 2022.
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