In an interview the Wolverines’ football coach said he thought the COVID-19 pandemic has more people thinking about “the sanctity of life.” University of Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh, in an interview about the coronavirus pandemic, said he believed the crisis has made people more prayerful, and more cognizant of the “sanctity of life.”
“Even now, as we all go through what we’re going through with COVID-19, I see people more concerned about others,” Harbaugh told National Review’s Jay Nordlinger during a podcast.
“More prayerful. As I said, God has virtually stopped the world from spinning. I don’t think it’s coincidence — my personal feeling, living a faith-based life, this is a message, or this is something that should be a time where we grow on our faith for reverence and respect for God,” he said.
“You see people taking more of a view of sanctity of life,” Harbaugh added. “And I hope that can continue. I hope that continues and not just in this time of crisis or pandemic.”
In the interview, the Catholic Harbaugh turned to the issue of abortion.
“And lastly, abortion, we talk about sanctity of life, yet we live in a society that aborts babies. There can’t be anything more horrendous,” he told Nordlinger.
Harbaugh has not be shy about talking about the role his Catholic faith plays in his life. In 2017 he took the entire Michigan football team to Rome, where the team attended a general audience with Pope Francis. In a tweet before the trip, Harbaugh said that his infant son was conceived in the Jubilee year of Divine Mercy, and that it was his dream to “have our baby baptized at the Vatican.”
John Paul Harbaugh conceived in the Jubilee year of Devine Mercy declared by @Pontifex My dream is to have our baby Baptized at the Vatican pic.twitter.com/OlzbNeu3wq
— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) January 26, 2017