Leading Vatican diplomat speaks at UN on the family, development, and Syria

October 03, 2013

In an October 1 speech to the United Nations General Assembly, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States addressed representatives of UN member states as they discussed international development goals.

Efforts to promote integral human development, said Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, should be based on the “promotion of the family, founded on the union of one man and one woman, and its rights.” Quoting Pope Francis’s recent letter to Vladimir Putin, Archbishop Mamberti said that the world economy will “only develop if it allows a dignified way of life for all human beings, from the eldest to the unborn child.”

After calling upon wealthier nations to include poorer countries in their deliberations about the international economy, the prelate said that a major obstacle to development is a lack of peace.

Archbishop Mamberti lamented the suffering caused by wars in Africa, violent drug trafficking in the Americas, and the Syrian conflict. Citing the Catechism of the Catholic Church, told his audience that war is a means of last resort and that the moral law remains valid during war.

Archbishop Mamberti recalled the Holy See’s “deep concern” for the fate of Syrian Christians and called upon the international community to redouble its efforts for a nonviolent solution to the Syrian conflict.

“It is essential to avoid any action which might aggravate or even extend the conflagration,” he said as he urged nations to “abandon all vain pursuit of a military solution.”

 

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Further information:

• Déclaration de Son Excellence Monseigneur DOMINIQUE MAMBERTI (Permanent Observer Mission)
• New development agenda must ensure human dignity for all – Holy See (UN Daily News)