2026. “On the Solemnity of the Annunciation March 25^th, celebrated as Respect Life Day in many countries, Leo XIV promoted an initiative begun by Venerable Fulton Sheen. What is it and how can we join in?

Pope Leo XIV greeted Polish visitors and commended an undertaking being launched in Poland.

I cordially greet the Poles. Today Poland celebrates the Day of the Sanctity of Life. We greatly need initiatives such as the Spiritual Adoption of an Unborn Child, which is being launched today. In a time marked by the madness of war, it is important to defend life from conception until its natural end. I bless you all!

The Pope noted that Poland, like many countries, marks the feast of Jesus' conception as Respect Life Day. He also praised the Spiritual Adoption of an Unborn Child, a movement being undertaken by Polish Catholics.

A movement with a long history

If you have been involved in pro-life advocacy or ministry, the notion of spiritual adoption of the unborn is probably not new to you. It hearkens back to another prominent religious figure in the news on Wednesday (for the announcement of his beatification date), the Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen. As the movement for legalized abortion in the United States was growing in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Archbishop Sheen composed a brief prayer of spiritual adoption, with which one could pray for an unborn child at risk:

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, I love you very much.

I beg of you to spare the life of the unborn child I have spiritually adopted, who is in danger of abortion.

Soon the individual prayer became a movement. Whether on one's own or in a group -- or as a nation, in the case of Poland's Catholics -- the process is simple. To spiritually adopt an unborn child, pledge to pray Archbishop Sheen's prayer every day for nine months. We are praying, says the Diocese of Orange (California)'s Spiritual Adoption of an Unborn Child page, that "one particular but unknown child’s life be spared abortion and be allowed to continue to live." The understanding is that although the particular child is unknown to you, God knows who he or she is and hears your prayer.

Add a Hail Mary each day for the child's parents, that they may have the courage of Mary and Joseph to bring a child into the world in a challenging situation. You may even give the child a name in your heart, to emphasize the humanity of the unborn.

Spiritual adoption as a group

The Diocese of Orange encourages its parishes to involve families in the spiritual adoption process. Parishioners might begin the process together at a particular time, and be supported along the way with parish bulletin articles or small group meetings. The nine months then have the shape of a novena, and can, the diocese notes "serve as an opportunity to educate others about the development of the pre-born baby."

At the end of nine months you might like to host a baby shower. The baby shower is a visible means of imitating the Magi by providing assistance in the form of a donated baby item. These baby items can be given to one of the Respect Life Clinics, Centers or Shelters.

Just a a minute or two a day

Even if your parish or diocese does not sponsor a Spiritual Adoption of an Unborn Child initiative, you can make this pledge on your own or with your family. Archbishop Sheen's brief prayer and one Hail Mary take almost no time at all, an can be added to your meal blessing or night prayers.

Can it make a difference? According to the Diocese of Orange, "Our prayers CAN make a difference between whether a baby will be born … or aborted. Our prayers can also be a form of spiritual support for both of the parents."

https://www.rcbo.org/ministry/life-justice-peace/church-teachings/abortion/spiritual-adoption-program/

Source: https://aleteia.org/2026/03/26/pope-backs-spiritual-adoption-of-the-unborn/

Is there salvation without sacramental Baptism?

Yes, but as an exception and always through the Chruch:

https://www.catholic365.com/article/49314/if-theres-salvation-outside-the-church-what-is-the-church-for.html

How about spiritual baptism?

The Bible is clear, Jesus himself commanded us to baptize for salvation. That’s the usual way. Could there be an exception?

As seen in the article above, there are exceptions: baptism of blood and baptism of desire, either by the person himself or his parents / adoptive parents (if he is not developed enough to desire by himself).

Desire or sacramenteal Baptism of minors is accomplished through the faith of the Church, which covers with its treasures of grace surging from Jesus, the impossibility of the minor to embrace the faith.

A mother desiring to abort her preborn child has already relinquished her “spiritual soveignty” (legally “parental authority”) over her child, who is now like an orphan in the womb, despite having his biological mother alive.

If Pope Leo XIII endorsed spiritual adoption, why wouldn’t it work as a spiritual baptism?

It would! But there’s one requirement: the spiritual parents (godfathers and godmothers) must have the intention to spiritually adopt.

As in any type of baptism (sacramental, blood, desire), this adoption is in Chruch/Mary’s womb, through the paternity of the Holy Trinity and Joseph, father of the Chuch.

Therefore, even if the preborn is assassinated by abortion, the baby will go straight to heaven, because his original sin has been cleaned through the Church.

There’d be no need to hope on a special path of God’s infinite Mercy (previously called limbo), involving the application of special graces through the economy of salvation, because that is 100% granted by spiritual baptism.

The adopted babies will pray for their deliverers 24/7 in the face of God.

Spiritual Baptism also works for the born children and even “adult” disabled, in risk of death, if incapable of knowing about and having the desire for baptism.

How could we spiritually baptize the baby?

Any prayer will do with the intention to adopt and baptize the preborn.

Here’s one example:

Our Lady of the Sweet Expectation,

with you, we adopt all who are and will be without baptism

we pray that the hopeless get hope

that the poor sinners repent

that the babies be born healthy

that the uncapable of choosing baptism

be baptized and go to heaven

and that we have a holy and large descendancy.

Dear Holy Family - Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Anne and Joachim -

I consecrate myself and them to your Eucharistic Hearts and I offer myself, my good deeds and all sufferings permitted by God, for the salvation of as many souls as possible.

While baptizing the unbaptized in the spiritual waters of Mary’s womb and in the Holy Spirit (John 3:5), please choose baptism names, and apply my prayer, repeating for each:

Whatever name you were given, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

More on Our Lady of the Sweet Expectation:

https://catholicmasstimes.com/our-lady-of-expectation-5-prayers/

Caveat

If the baby survives, spiritual baptism doesn’t lift the obligation for sacramental baptism as soon as possible.

Since we don’t know what happens, we should keep them in our hearts and prayers all our lives.

Many prolife centers have the excellent practice of sharing the names of babies in risk of abortion, so we can spiritually adopt/baptize them, and pray for their parents and family. If there’s no name for the baby, we could pick one, preferably choosing from the Saints of the day and the Holy Family, so they can be the baby’ special protectors.

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Please pray every day for the Pope and Church!

The Church is undergoing a huge crisis, which was clearly shown by how the waged shepherds abandonned the sheep, without food and medicine (Mass, Sacraments), at the mercy of the wolf (Satan) during the lockdowns, with the insane excuse of locking down the healthy (cunninngly tagged as asymptomatic) to flatten a curve which was obviously not flattened in the first fortnight (2 weeks), and the next, and the next …

John 10

11 I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

12 A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them.

13 This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.

14 I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me,

15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.

Bishops should have apologized after 2020 for denying Priests, Mass, Sacraments for no real reason: Johns Hopkins 18000-studies meta-analysis proved lockdowns useless, while Catholic epidemiologists had predicted the futility of quarantining the healthy (all falsely presumed to be asymptomatic with tainted PCR tests designed to give massive false positives by overcycling) and the lack of results was obvious because the curve never flattened after 2 weeks and the next 2 weeks and the next … year!

https://www.catholic365.com/article/26128/apologies-from-your-church.html

Not counting that the following article proves widespread corruption at the Vatican Bank (including investing in corporations supporting abortion and using their AI for unjust war and espionage of common people) and no other Catholic media picked it up:

Vatican Bank Supports Abortion

https://www.catholic365.com/article/58469/vatican-endorses-satan-corp.html

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