Leading Vatican diplomat laments violations of right to life
October 28, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: Addressing a UN committee meeting on human rights questions, a leading Vatican diplomat lamented violations of the right to life, without which “no other rights can be exercised or enjoyed.”
“It is deeply troubling that, even within the United Nations, the right to life is invoked in the defense of abortion, which directly ends the life of the most vulnerable members of our human family, unborn children,” said Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations. “Nor can it honestly be described as truly serving women, many of whom are pressured by both people and circumstances, and are themselves often morally, physically, and psychologically harmed by abortion.”
“No less concerning is the growing advocacy around the world for the legislation of assisted suicide,” he continued. “Far too often cloaked in the language of choice, troubling stories abound wherever it has been legalized. What choice is there for the disabled persons who cannot get the support they need, the elderly who have been abandoned, the poor without necessary resources for treatment, and those struggling with mental illness who have lost hope?”
Archbishop Caccia added:
The Holy See also considers the death penalty to be a violation of the fundamental principle of the right to life. The State’s obligation to protect its citizens, including through the impartial and efficient administration of justice, is essential to the common good. Yet improvements in the penal system in many States are sufficient to defend human lives against an aggressor and to protect public order and the safety of persons.The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.
For this reason, authorities should not resort to means that are unnecessary and undermine the right to life. This is true not only to avoid miscarriages of justice against the innocent, but also for the guilty, whose lives, however misused, still have intrinsic value.
Although the death penalty is not yet expressly prohibited by international law, it is however incompatible with the right to life.
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