Skip to content

Pope Francis, International Leaders Discuss Children’s Rights at Vatican

Pope Francis and leaders from around the world are meeting at the Vatican this week to discuss the rights of children, including the smallest and most defenseless children — the unborn.

Pope Francis and leaders from around the world are meeting at the Vatican this week to discuss the rights of children, including the smallest and most defenseless children — the unborn.

The pontiff opened the two-day summit on Feb. 3 with a reflection on the many ways children are oppressed today, including living through war, poverty, as undocumented migrants, and without access to adequate food, education, and health care.

World leaders participate along with Pope Francis at the Children’s Rights Summit on Feb. 3, 2025, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
World leaders participate along with Pope Francis at the Children’s Rights Summit on Feb. 3, 2025, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media

In his address to prominent leaders in the private and public sectors, he also highlighted how children are harmed through abortion, promoted by a “throwaway culture of waste and profit, in which everything is bought and sold without respect or care for life, especially when that life is small and defenseless.”

“In the name of this throwaway mentality, in which the human being becomes all-powerful, unborn life is sacrificed through the murderous practice of abortion,” Francis said. “Abortion suppresses the life of children and cuts off the source of hope for the whole of society.”

The Feb. 3-4 summit, titled “Love Them and Protect Them,” includes panels on the child’s right to resources, to education, to food and health care, to family, to free time, and to live free from violence.

Summit speakers include Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, president of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach, former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, and author and Holocaust survivor Edith Bruck.

Italian Sen. Liliana Segre speaks to world leaders at the Children’s Rights Summit on Feb. 3, 2025, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media
Italian Sen. Liliana Segre speaks to world leaders at the Children’s Rights Summit on Feb. 3, 2025, at the Vatican. Credit: Vatican Media

Cardinal Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for relations with states, and other Vatican officials are chairing the panels.

Speaking in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall, Pope Francis also drew attention Monday to his concern that young people, themselves a sign of hope, are struggling to find hope in today’s world.

“Increasingly, those who have their whole life ahead of them are unable to approach it with optimism and confidence,” he said, pointing out the damage of “pathological individualism” in developed countries.

Pope Francis also spoke about the growing phenomenon in immigration of unaccompanied minors — including “the ‘indocumentados’ [undocumented] children at the border of the United States, those first victims of that exodus of despair and hope made by the thousands of people coming from the south toward the United States of America, and many others.”

Before the start of the summit on Monday, Pope Francis met briefly with a group of children from different countries who gave him a letter saying “together with you we want to cleanse the world of bad things, color it with friendship and respect, and help you build a beautiful future for everyone!”

The pontiff will also deliver the summit’s closing remarks on the afternoon of Feb. 4.

This article was originally published on Catholic News Agency.

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER HERE

Receive the most important news from EWTN Vatican via WhatsApp. It has become increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channel today

Share

Would you like to receive the latest updates on the Pope and the Vatican

Receive articles and updates from our EWTN Newsletter.

More news related to this article

Hearing the Pope’s Confession: Vatican Confessor Reflects on Sacrament

A 91-year-old Franciscan has spoken about his time as confessor to Pope Francis and stressed the enduring and essential role of the sacrament of reconciliation.

Vatican and Victims Address Rupnik Scandal

The Vatican deepens its probe into allegations against Fr. Marko Rupnik as victims speak out, while Pope Francis lifts statute limitations and actions are taken against Rupnik's co-founded community amidst debates over his mosaics' fate.

Pope Leo XIV seeks to reestablish ‘full visible communion’ with Eastern Orthodox

Pope Leo XIV received members of a delegation from the Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate in a June 28 audience held at the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican in the context of the June 29 celebration of the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Pope Francis celebrates today 31 years as a bishop

Pope Francis marks this Tuesday 31 years since his consecration as Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires, conferred by Cardinal Antonio Quarracino, then Archbishop of the Argentine capital, on June 27, 1992.

Pope Francis celebrates 87th birthday with children who receive aid from Vatican clinic

Pope Francis celebrated his 87th birthday on Sunday morning ahead of his weekly Angelus by meeting with children

Why is St. Blaise’s Throat Kept in a Church in Rome?

Every February 3rd, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Blaise, the patron saint of throat diseases. What very few know is that part of his own throat is kept as a relic in a church located on one of the most emblematic streets of Rome.

LIVE
FROM THE VATICAN

Be present live on EWTNit