Pope to U.N. Heads: Unborn Children are "Our Brothers and Sisters"




By Stefano Gennarini, J.D.

NEW YORK, May 15 (C-FAM) The highest-ranking U.N. human rights official, Navi Pillay, looked down and fidgeted as Pope Francis delivered an unambiguous pro-life message to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and top U.N. officials.

Unborn children are “our brothers and sisters,” Pope Francis told Pillay and her colleagues gathered in Rome for a coordination meeting. Pillay’s office facilitates the work of the U.N. committees that recently told the Vatican to change Church teaching on abortion.

“Today, in concrete terms, an awareness of the dignity of each of our brothers and sisters whose life is sacred and inviolable from conception to natural death must lead us to share with complete freedom the goods which God’s providence has placed in our hands,” the Pope exhorted.

The message comes at a critical time, when the United Nations is discussing a new development framework to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in 2015 and contribute to the eradication of poverty, improvements in health, and economic development. The U.N. General Assembly is conducting consultations to garner consensus on a scheme known as the Sustainable Development Goals.

The pope applauded the U.N.’s efforts so far, but cautioned that many are still excluded from the benefits of social and economic progress, unborn children among them. More.
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