Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 31, 2004 / 22:00 pm
The Third World Congress on the Family, which took place this week in Mexico City, concluded yesterday with a statement signed by more than 300 organizations from 50 countries demanding their governments and the United Nations protect marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
The statement is broken down into five points, which urge that the natural order of marriage and the family be safeguarded. The three-day meeting brought together representatives from various governments, ONGs, civic associations and religious leaders, including the President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo and Cardinal Renato Martino, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
The statement declares that “the family is an institution of natural right, the origin of society and its most basic and fundamental unit,” adding that “marriage, based on human nature, is the fundamental unit of family life and is the only moral and ethical means of forming a family.”
“Marriage is constituted by the union of a man and a woman, for the purpose of building of a community of life, mutually helping one another and seeking the preservation of humanity,” the statement says.
Likewise, it underscores that “same-sex unions cannot be recognized as marriages because they are contrary to human nature.”
The statement reaffirms the urgency of defending life and human dignity as “the first and foremost rights of mankind, and as such should be respected from the moment of fertilization or conception.”
The signers of the document called on “the leaders of our respective countries, and the Secretary General of the United Nations, Koffi Annan, to speak out against the efforts in various countries to promote homosexual and lesbian orientation as a human right, which is contrary to human nature and dignity and the basic and fundamental institutions of society, such as marriage and the family.”