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                                    HOLY SEE

                             INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
                           ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT

                             CAIRO, 5-13 SEPTEMBER 1994


                                    STATEMENT BY

                  HIS EXCELLENCY, ARCHBISHOP RENATO R. MARTINO

              PERMANENT OBSERVER OF THE HOLY SEE TO THE UNITED NATIONS
            HEAD OF THE DELEGATION OF THE HOLY SEE TO THE INTERNATIONAL
                      CONFERENCE ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT

                                 7 SEPTEMBER 1994

                              CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY


                          STATEMENT BY
            HIS EXCELLENCY, ARCHBISHOP BAN R. MARTINO,
     PERMANENT OBSERVER OF THE HOLY SEE TO THE INTERNATIONAL NATIONS
                  HEAD OF THE HOLY SEE DELEGATION
                             AT THE
     INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT
                     CAlRO, 7 SEPTEMBER} 1994

Mr President,

         The Delegation of the Holy See wishes in the first place to
express its particular appreciation to the President, the
Government and the People of Egypt for the welcome that we have all
received in this city of Cairo and for the excellent arrangements
that have been made for the Conference.

         Our meeting in these days represents the culmination of a
period of intense relection and activity on the part of the
international community on a number of important challenges which
all of us must face in the coming years. Pope John Paul II has
stressed rightly that these challenges touch on crucial issues.
trey concern the future of humanity.

         The period of preparation, which has lasted a number of years,
has shown that population policy, if it is to respond to these
challenges, cannot simply be about numbers. It must deal with the
conditions in which all the people of the world are called to live.
It is about the solidarity that must be fostered among peoples so
that humanity can become more and more a true family.

         The Holy See has taken an active and constructive part in the
preparatory period, fully respecting the procedures of the
Conference, entering into dialogue with the various participants at
all levels, while remaining true to its own particular position and
status in the international community.

1. This Conference deals not only with global statistics or the
complex question of population-growth rates which have in recent
years been noticeably describing. The very title "International
Conference on Population and Development" shows that our task
involves the search for a better management and a more equitable
distribution of the goods of this earth, which in God's design were
destined to be shared as the common heritage of all. population
policy must always be seen as part of a more comprehensive
development policy. Both are, in fact, about the same reality,
namely, the centrality of the human person and the responsibility
of all to guarantee that every individual person can live in a
manner which respects his or her dignity. The great biblical
tradition describes the human person as being created as nothing
less than "in the image of God". The purpose of this Conference
should be to ensure that every person on this earth can live in
conditions which truly reflect that-t dignity. While mant development
issues are treated in the various chapters of the Draft Final
Document, the Holy See finds that the Chapter dealing explicitly
with the relationship between population and development is
disproportionately small with respect to the document as a whole.

       Population growth or decline affects the lives of people who
strive to live in dignity and security, but who are thwarted by
fragile political and socio-economic structures. Development
strategies require equity in the distribution of resources and
technology within the international community and access to
international markets. The servicing of the external debt of the
poorest nations strangles their social development. Measures are
needed to make available, on priority terms, the technology
required for improvements in agriculture, clean water supply, food
security and distribution, and health care, especially to overcome
those infectious diseases which greatly contribute to maternal and
child mortality.

2       This Conference addresses in a special way the position of
women within population and development policies. Already ten
years ago, at the Mexico City Population Conference, the Holy See
delegation stressed that population policies must address as a
priority the advancement of women's level of education and health
care, especially primary health care. In both developed and
developing countries, the Catholic Church has been and is deeply
involved in providing a wide range of education and health care
services, with special attention to women and children, especially
the poor.

      Throughout the world, also in countries with only a minority
Catholic population, tens of thousands of hospitals, clinics,
dispensaries, as well as other facilities for mother and child
health and the care of the elderly, are run by the Catholic Church
or funded by Catholic donors. Such health care facilities, along
with Church structures for formal and informal education,
contribute to the advancement of women in such a way as to foster
their active participation in the development process and to remove
the often excessive burdens which women in developing countries
must bear. Much remains to be done in this area and the Holy See,
as well as members of the Church in various parts of the world,
remain ready to cooperate in achieving this goal.

3. Population policies have a particular place in development
policies, as they involve at the same time global questions and the
most intimate area of the lives of men and women: the responsible
use of their sexuality and their mutual responsibility concerning
human reproduction.

      Responsible decisions concerning the number of children and
the spacing of births belong to parents, who must be free from all
coercion and pressure from public authorities, which should however
ensure that citizens have accurate information on the various
demographic factors involved. The Holy See, following on its
long-standing and consistent position welcomes the affirmations of
this Conference which stress that coercion be excluded from all
aspects of population policy. It is to be hoped that these
affirmations will be scrupulously put into practice by all the
nations participating here and that nations and the international
community will be vigilant in eliminating abuses associated with
family planning programs.

     In the past, population policies were structured in such a way
that they often tended towards coercion and pressure, especially
through the setting of targets for providers. Women were the
primary victims. Subtle forms of coercion and pressure have also
resulted from a misrepresentation of demographic data which induces
fear and anxiety about the future.

       This Conference must mark the beginning of a new and clipper
reflection on population policy. Respect for life and for the
dignity of the human person must be the ultimate guiding norm for
such a policy. This policy should foster the family based on
marriage and must sustain parents, fathers and mothers, in their
mutual and responsible].e decisions with regard to the procreation and
education of children. The Draft Final Document, in fact, draws
attention to the need to foster family stability, for the positive
effects that such stability brings to society.

       The Holy See does not support a notion of procreation at all
costs. Its respect for the sacred significance of the transmission
of human life makes it stress, even more than others, the
responsibility which must characterize the decisions of parents as
to whether, at a given moment, they should have or not have a
child. This responsibility concerns not only their own personal
fulfillment, but their responsibilities to God, to the new life
that they will mutually bring into the world, to their existing
children and their family, as well as to society, in a correct
hierarchy of moral values.

       Lack of respectability in the area of human sexuality cannot
but be a cause of concern to everybody. It is women and children
who are most often the principal victims of such irresponsible
behavior. Such remains to be done to educate and form men to more
responsible behavior and to their OWJI sharing in responsibilities
concerning the procreation and the education of children. Lack of
responsibility in sexual behavior is also due to the fostering
today of attitudes of sexual permissiveness, which focus above all
on personal pleasure and gratification.

       One of the great concerns of the Holy See about the Draft
Final Document is that, while in identifying behavior which the
text itself considers "high-risk" or undesirable, all too often it
limits itself primarily to suggestions as to how the "risks" can be
reduced or contained, shying away from proposing a change in such
behavior at its roots. No one can deny that society must be aware
of the health consequences of irresponsible or immature behavior,
but one has to ask: what will be the long term consequences of the
abdication by society of its responsibility to challenge and to
attempt to change such undesirable behavioral patterns? Even more
so, what happens when society tacitly accepts such irresponsible
behavior as normal?

       The Church's position on responsible parenthood is well known,
although at times it is misunderstood. Some here might consider it
too demanding for today's man and woman. But no way of fostering
the deepest respect for human life and the processes of its
transmission is going to be an easy one. Responsibility brings
burdens. Responsibility demands discipline and self-restraint.

4. Human life is so important that its transmission has been
entrusted not simply to a series of mechanical biological
processes. New life, from its very beginnings, has the right to be
closely welcomed into the loving and stable communion of the
family, the natural and fundamental group unit of society. The
family belongs to the heritage of humanity, precisely because it is
the place where the stable relationship of a man and a woman is
transformed into a caring institution for the responsible
transmission and nurturing of new life.

        The problems which families have to face are well known. It is
commonplace, likewise, to attribute many of the problems concerning
social disintegration to a breakdown in family structures. Few
however have the courage to develop creative programs to
strengthen the family and to concretely assist parents in the
exercise of their rights and in carrying out their duties and
responsibilities. Society must give primary recognition to the
extraordinary contribution which parents render to society's own
good, and translate that recognition into effective support on the
level of cultural, fiscal and social policy. The Holy See strongly
rejects any attempts to weaken the family or to propose a radical
redefining of its structure, such as assigning the status of family
to other life-style forms.

5. The transmission of life begins with the intimate relationship
of parents and is entrusted to parental love. The responsible
transmission of life and the loving care of parents belong
together. The holy See cannot endorse methods of family planning
which fundamentally separate those two essential dimensions of
human sexuality, and will express its position on such methods
through an appropriate reservation. The Holy See is also concerned
- and must express this concern - about some specific family
planning methods, which while not explicitly treated in the
Conference texts, are obviously included under the general term
"family planning services". This concern touches especially
programs of sterilization, a family planning method which is
generally irreversible, and thus excludes a change in decisions
about child bearing, and is the family planning method most open to
abuse on human rights grounds, especially when promoted among the
poor or the illiterate.

        The natural methods of family planning receive only passing
mention in the Draft Plan of Action, despite the fact that a
substantial number of families wish to use these methods, not only
for moral] reasons, but also because they are scientifically
effective, inexpensive, without the side effects often associated
with hormonal and t-.technical methods, and because they foster, in a
unique manner, the cooperation and mutual respect of both partners,
especially through requiring a more responsible attitude on the
part of men.

6. The Holy See is particularly concerned about the manner in
which the question of abortion has been treated in the preparation
of this Conference.

       International] consensus language urges governments to "take
appropriate steps to help women to avoid abortion, which in no case
should be promoted as a method of family planning, and whenever
possible, to provide for the humane treatment and counseling of
women who have had recourse to abortion". The Holy See is hopeful
that the Conference will reaffirm this principle.

       While there are many texts in the document which would
clearly infer a desire of nations to reduce the number of abortions
and to remove the conditions which lead women to have recourse to
abortions, there have been efforts by some to foster the concept of
"a right to abortion" and to establish abortion as an essential
component of population policy. Texts under negotiation ask that
countries reexamine their legislation on abortion and countries are
urged, in similar texts, to provide in the coming years, services
of "pregnancy termination" for persons "of all ages". Should
current bracketed texts be approved they would endorse "pregnancy
termination" without setting any limits any criteria or any
restrictions on such practices as integral parts of reproductive
health services. Through the possible approval of other bracketed
language addressed to the entire international community such
unrestricted access to abortion might be elevated to the level of
a right.

        None of these new tendencies emerged during the regional
preparatory Conferences. The concept of a "right to abortion"
would be entirely innovative in the international community and
would be contrary to the constitutional and legislative positions
of many states as well as being alien to the sensitivities of vast
numbers of persons believers and unbelievers alike.

7. The Holy See supports efforts which may emerge from this c
Conference to provide for the reduction of maternal and infant
mortality and to ensure improvements in the conditions of women's
health and child survival. These are important in themselves.
The dignity of individual] people is at stake. The existence of
high levels of maternal and infant mortality in any part of the
world is a wound in the image of a modern world which prides itself
on its high level of material, scientific and technical] progress.

       At the same time there is need to strengthen counseling
services to support women faced with difficulties regarding their
pregnancies and to provide humane treatment following the negative
consequences of induced abortions.

       On many occasions in the preparatory work of this Conference
the Holy See has stressed that it will support and contribute to
the putting into practice of a concept of "reproductive health"
which is understood as a holistic vision of health concerns in the
area of reproduction r that is a vision which embraces men and
women in the entirety of their personality mind and body, and
which is oriented towards a mature and responsible exercise of
their sexuality.

      While such a concept must look to the good of each and every
individual, it cannot-t overlook the fact that human sexuality is of
its very nature interpersonal. Reproductive health must take into
account the formation of people in those areas which will lead them
to be responsible and respectful in their behavior. the current
text is largely individualistic in its reflection and as such tends
to be lacking in its appreciation of the very nature of human
sexuality.

8. In today's world, in which many problems exist concerning
irresponsible behavior in the area of sexuality, and in which
women in particular are exploited, the education of adolescents
towards mature and responsible sexual behavior is essential The
principal responsibility in this area belongs to parents, whose
rights are recognized in numerous international instruments. All
efforts must be made to guarantee parents the full exercise of
these rights and to assist them to carry out their responsibilities
and duties- The task of rearing children belongs in the first
place to parents, not to the State. The Holy See hopes that texts
clearly endorse the rights, responsibilities of parents in this area,
will draw attention to the negative aspects of premature sexual
activity for young people and will endeavor to foster mature behavior
on the part of adolescents.

Mr President

At the beginning of my intervention, I noted that the Holy See
had followed the preparatory period for this Cairo Conference with
great attention and in rest)respectful dialogue with all the
participants you, that when the the Holy See and the Catholic Church
throughout the world will continue, incollaboration with the nations
of the international community, to make their specific contribution,
and indeed to intensify their traditional concrete service of basic
education and care, in complete respect for human life and for the
development of peoples in solidarity.
