Over 10,000 people marched in Warsaw on the 17th National March for Life and Family organized by the Life and Family Center to affirm support for marriage and it being a union of man and woman.
The 17th annual National March for Life and Family drew over 10,000 participants to Warsaw and hundreds in several other Polish towns. Attendees marched together declaring their allegiance to marriage as a union of man and woman. President Andrzej Duda, in an address that was played at the march, told participants that they were “giving public testimony to the most noble of ideals.”
According to Paweł Ozdoba, the head of the Center for Life and Marriage, which organized the march, the event is the organization’s answer to the crisis of marriage and the family caused by movements and programs that devalue marriage and the family or try to redefine its meaning.
Ozdoba said that in most cases, it was worth “fighting to save marriages” using specialist help and counseling to overcome problems. Ozdoba feels that there is a need to “give public testimony that marriage is a union of man and woman, an important and needed institution that builds society.”
The marchers’ banners focused on national symbols and the value of life, with demonstrators appealing for more births and fewer divorces. There were also calls for politicians to legislate in favor of preserving marriage and protecting children from the trauma of divorce.
Many of the marchers were parents with small children who marched despite rainy cold weather. Many of them said they were marching because they wanted to give testimony to their faith and their belief in the family as the most important part of the nation.
Many also expressed their commitment to traditional male and female roles in the family, with the man being the breadwinner giving the mother the chance to concentrate on the family.
