The Holy See does not consider abortion, access to abortion, or abortifacients to be ‘sexual reproductive health’ or ‘reproductive rights’, the Vatican Secretary of State has said.
Newsroom (26/09/2024 15:04, Gaudium Press) During his speech at the United Nations “Future Summit” in New York, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, stressed the importance of promoting the dignity of the human person. He also expressed the Holy See’s disapproval of the promotion of abortion and so-called gender ideology by this assembly.
Addressing the UN members gathered for the summit on Monday, the cardinal praised the summit participants for engaging in dialogue. Still, it stressed a “need to rethink actions in various areas”.
The cardinal expressed the Vatican’s concerns about the document entitled “Pact for the Future”, approved by the participants during the summit on Sunday. He said that “in keeping with its particular nature and mission, [the Holy See] wishes to express its reservations” about the assembly’s promotion of abortion and gender ideology.
The Holy See maintains the status of “permanent observer” without the right to vote at the United Nations.
“The term ‘gender’ is based on the biological sexual identity of male or female”
Although the “Pact for the Future” approved at the summit does not explicitly mention abortion, it does set out the summit’s goal of “ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights”. “Reproductive health” and ‘reproductive rights’ are terms used to refer to a range of health services, mainly for women, which generally include abortion.
“As for the terms ‘sexual and reproductive health’ and ‘reproductive rights’, the Holy See considers that these terms apply to a holistic concept of health, embracing, each in its way, the person in the totality of his or her personality, mind, and body, and favoring the achievement of personal maturity in sexuality and in the reciprocal love and decision-making that characterizes the conjugal relationship between a man and a woman, by moral norms,” Parolin said.
“The Holy See does not consider abortion or access to abortion, or abortifacients, as a dimension of these terms,” he clarified. “About ‘gender’,” Parolin continued, ”the Holy See understands that the term is based on biological sexual identity, which is male or female.”
The cardinal also spoke about other issues such as poverty, the search for peace, and global disarmament.
Compiled by Dominic Joseph
