WASHINGTON — “With great joy we celebrate October as Respect Life Month amid the Church’s Jubilee Year of Hope,” announced Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, in a statement.

“The daily headlines remind us of how desperately our world is thirsting for the hope that only God can provide…. the gift of human life exists as a sign of hope to our world today, defying the powers of darkness and the culture of death. It is of the utmost importance that we work to ensure that every life, in every stage and circumstance, is protected in law.

“This Jubilee Year we are challenged to be agents of hope to those whose hearts are burdened by trial, difficulty, or suffering, offering them the hope that comes from Christ Jesus alone,” Bishop Thomas said.

Read Bishop Thomas’s full statement here. Since 1973, the Catholic Church in the United States has observed October as “Respect Life Month.”