Declaration of the Holy See regarding the Lisbon Declaration on Youth

Declaration of the Holy See regarding the Lisbon Declaration

The Holy See welcomes the initiative of the First World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth to analyze the problems facing young people in today's world in order to find solutions to those problems.

The delegation of the Holy See has offered its own contribution in order to arrive at a Final Declaration.

The Lisbon Declaration is of great importance in providing guidelines for political decisions in favour of young people — above all regarding the grave and urgent needs such as poverty, peace, education and health.

The Holy See, however, has not failed to point out some serious concerns regarding the Final Declaration, during the preparatory part of the Conference as well as during the Conference itself. While some of these have been addressed through improvements in the text, others remain problematic.

The Holy See joins in partial consensus to the Final Declaration of the First World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth and in conformity with its nature and particular mission makes the following reservations:

1. Regarding the terms "reproductive health care" and "reproductive health", the Holy See considers these terms in a more general concept of health. These terms embrace, each in its own way, the person in the entirety of his or her personality, mind and body. They foster the achievement of personal maturity in sexuality and in the mutual love and decision making that characterize the conjugal relationship in accordance with moral norms. The Holy See rejects the act of abortion or access to abortion as a dimension of these terms.

2. With reference to the terms "family planning" and "family life education", in as much as it includes family planning, and any other terms regarding family planning education and services, the Holy See reiterates its well-known position concerning those family planning methods that the Catholic Church considers morally unacceptable. Hence, this partial consensus given here should not be interpreted as a change in the Holy See's position in this regard.

Further, the Holy See reaffirms that education of and information provided to young people on sexual and reproductive health is primarily and fundamentally the right, duty and responsibility of parents.

3. In making references to all international agreements mentioned in the Declaration, the Holy See reiterates its reservations made on some of them.

4. The Holy See understands the terms "young women' and "young men" in their access to family planning services as meaning married couples and the individual man and woman who constitute the couple. In this the Holy See wishes to give emphasis to the particular aspect of mutual love and decision making that characterize the marital relationship.

5. The Holy See interprets the terms "gender", "gender-based", "gender sensitive" and "gender equitable" as grounded in the biological, sexual identity, that is, the two sexes, male and female.

6. The Holy See accepts the terms "family unit", "family structures" and "integrated perspective of families" as meaning the family as the basic unit of society and in terms of marriage as an equal partnership between husband and wife in conformity with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.