(CNA) The third night of the 2020 Republican National Convention featured a Catholic religious sister and a Chinese human rights lawyer and activist endorsing President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.
Sister Deirdre Byrne of the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, who is also a retired army officer, surgeon, and missionary, said she believes Trump to be “the most pro-life president that this nation has ever had” in remarks that aired on Wednesday night at the convention.
The sister said that in her view, Trump has the support of the pro-life community and “has a nationwide [army of] religious standing behind him” armed “with our weapon of choice, the rosary.”
She also called the Democratic presidential ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris “the most anti-life presidential ticket ever, even supporting the horrors of late-term abortion and infanticide.”
“I’m not just pro-life,” she said, “I’m pro-eternal life.”
A Chinese human rights lawyer who spoke out against the country’s coercive family planning policies also addressed the convention.
Chen Guangcheng, who is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., escaped house arrest in China in 2012 and sought shelter at the U.S. embassy in Beijing; he was eventually granted asylum in the U.S. with the help of Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.).
Chen condemned the human rights record of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Wednesday.
“In China, expressing beliefs or ideas not approved by the CCP–religion, democracy, human rights–can lead to prison,” he said. “The nation lives under mass surveillance and censorship.”
Vice President Mike Pence delivered the keynote address of Wednesday evening, where he officially accepted the party’s nomination to run for vice president in 2020.
Tej Francis
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