4. Pregnant Mountain
This giant sculpture represents “the image of a baby in the womb.” The monument was made by the Christian artist Dubian Monsalve in 2012, on the wall of a mountain in a small town in the municipality of Santo Domingo, near Medellín (Colombia). His work has become a tourist attraction in the country.
Monsalve told ACI Prensa in 2015 that he made the sculpture as part of his university degree work. He explained that it took him 15 days to complete it due to the humid and rainy climate of the area. He indicated that for his execution he did not use modern tools, but rather “peasant ones.”
The young artist said that the work emerged as a tribute to his community, which was impacted by violence, social and political crisis, and drug trafficking, in the 1990s, and managed to overcome it. “It was like being born again,” he said.
In addition, he noted that he seeks to contribute to the defense of life. “I am a believer and I believe that life is worth everything. So, that symbol like a ‘pregnant mountain’ also represents the woman who gives life, because life is worth a lot from its conception to its end,” she said.
Credit: Viztaz Archive (.org)
5. Memorial for unborn children
This monument is located in Slovakia and is the work of the Slovak artist Martin Hudacek. It was made in 2010 and received praise for its depiction of the pain, sadness and regret felt by women who have had abortions. The image went viral after Hudacek presented a replica to Pope Francis in 2015.
Hudacek said in 2015 to CNA – English agency of the ACI Group – that he made the artwork while he was still a student, and that the idea was born by inspiration from God. He said that a friend, who used to pray a lot, suggested that he make a statue “that represents the effects of post-abortion syndrome.”
He said that after praying, meditating and listening to many who told him that “they needed an image of forgiveness,” the image of “a crying mother and a child who forgives her” came to mind and he began his work, a work which was not so difficult thanks to the prayers of many people.
The life-size sculpture portrays a woman with her head bowed, covering her face with one hand and pressing her chest with the other, and in front of her is a small child who extends one of his arms towards the woman’s head. . The work is made of imitation stone and the color of the woman’s sculpture is pink and contrasts with that of the child, which is transparent.
The artist noted that the woman is a suffering mother who is grieving for having aborted her child and the little boy is her aborted baby who raises her hand to touch the woman’s head in a tender gesture of forgiveness and healing.
Hudacek said that he wanted to express the need for mercy for mothers who have abortions and that he was shocked by the large number of testimonies from people who see themselves reflected in the sculpture and even cry when they see it and affirm that “the sculpture touched their hearts.” “I am personally impressed and glad to be able to participate in God’s work,” he said.
Credit: Daniel Ibáñez / ACI Prensa.
6. Mother of the born and unborn
This Marian sculpture was created by artist Jorge Velarde, from Ecuador, and shows the Virgin carrying an unborn baby in her hands. The sculpture was donated by Paola Cesa and unveiled in 2020, during a Mass dedicated to unborn children in Guayaquil.
The Eucharist was celebrated on All Souls’ Day, by the Archbishop of Guayaquil, Mons. Luis Cabrera Herrera, in the local cemetery “Panteón Metropolitano”, where 11 babies who died due to abortion or other reasons were also buried. causes, a few days after birth.
Estela Zea, one of the two founders of the “Babies in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary” movement, which helps parents suffering from post-abortion syndrome, told ACI Prensa in 2020 that the sculpture of the Virgin and the baby in a fetal state They are “life size”. She explained that the artist Velarde investigated the “physiognomy of a baby in the womb” and followed the measurement of a real umbilical cord to create his work.
The press of the Archdiocese of Guayaquil told ACI Prensa in 2022 that a grotto is being built in the Metropolitan Pantheon, so that the sculpture of the Virgin “remains permanently in that pavilion” of unborn babies or babies who died at birth.
Credit: Archdiocese of Guayaquil.
Central Editorial
The Catholic Information Agency – ACI Prensa, is part of the news agencies of the ACI Group, one of the largest generators of Catholic news content in five languages and which has belonged since June 2014 to the EWTN Global Catholic Network family, the largest Catholic television network in the world, founded in 1981 by Mother Angelica in Irondale, Alabama (United States), and which reaches more than 85 million homes in 110 countries and 16 territories.