Andrea Bocelli Shares Pro-Life Testimony - June 25, 2010

A video that Italian singer Andrea Bocelli made a year ago is getting a lot of attention lately.  Seated at a piano he shares that he could have been aborted.  He recounts that his mother was hospitalized with an attack of appendicitis when she was pregnant.  The doctors applied some ice to her abdomen and at the conclusion of the treatment suggested she abort the child, since he would probably be born with some disability.

His mother decided not to have the abortion and Bocelli was born on September 22, 1958.  He was diagnosed with congenital glaucoma and was totally blind by the time he was 12.  According to the singer, “Maybe I’m partisan but I can say it was the right choice.”

The video, which was made at the request of a friend, was never meant to get the exposure that it has.  A friend of Bocelli, Fr. Richard Frecette, is a missionary in Haiti. He thought Bocelli’s story might help raise money for a new home for the children he works with, as well as provide hope to struggling mothers. Bocceli says in the video “I hope this could encourage many mothers that sometimes find themselves in difficult situations – in those moments when life is complicated but want to save the life of their baby.”

The Italian newspaper Il Foglio interviewed Bocceli about his video for their weekend edition.  He made clear in the interview that he is not merely “anti-abortion” but pro-life in the fullest sense. He told Il Foglio “Because of my personal convictions as a devout Catholic, I am not only fighting against something, I am fighting for something - and I am for life,” he said. 

He went on to speak of how his priest friend asked him “to say a few words of hope for mothers in difficulties and I chose to tell the story of my birth. I did it privately, telling the story of my mother without even asking permission, but I was not reprimanded [by her], but I was not prepared for all this fuss and delayed explosion.” Bocelli said that after the video began to circulate, he received many more phone calls than usual from all over the world, from people wanting to know more about his story.

He said that he had never wanted to talk about his blindness, “because really in my life are much more important things to tell: my life is a fairy tale, the story of a child who could not wait to go to Mass on Sundays because he would eventually be allowed to play a bit of organ, who followed a dream and at one point that dream has come true.”

While the video was made over a year ago it was only recently circulated on various websites, including here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QfKCGTfn3o.

A similar video was released earlier this year by Focus on the Family, an evangelical Christian ministry.  Heisman winning University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow shared how the doctors suggested to his mother that she have an abortion while pregnant with him.  Mrs. Tebow was 37 years old at the time and her pregnancy was considered high risk.  The doctors told her that an abortion could save her life.   Instead, she trusted the Lord to keep both her and her baby safe and she continued with the pregnancy.  The Tebow video aired during the TV coverage of the 2010 Super Bowl.

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