Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher spoke at the event \u201cA Common Front for Human Dignity: Preventing the Commodification of Women and Children in Surrogacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for relations with states and international organizations of the Holy See, described the practice of surrogacy as a \u201cnew form of colonialism\u201d in which the interests of adults prevail over the rights of children.<\/p>\n
The Italian Embassy to the Holy See hosted the Jan. 13 event \u201cA Common Front for Human Dignity: Preventing the Commodification of Women and Children in Surrogacy\u201d with the aim of fostering international debate on this practice and raising awareness of its ethical, legal, and social implications.<\/p>\n
The event, held at the Borromeo Palace in Rome, is part of an awareness campaign promoted by the Italian Ministry for Family, Birth Rate, and Equal Opportunities together with the Holy See at the United Nations.<\/p>\n
In his address, Gallagher stated that surrogacy is an issue that concerns all of humanity and therefore urged a united front to stop \u201cthe commodification of women and children.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Vatican official emphasized that this practice \u201cexploits bodies and takes any meaning out of relationships,\u201d reducing the person to a mere product, as Pope Francis has denounced. He also noted that Pope Leo XIV recently warned that surrogacy sacrifices the rights of children.<\/p>\n
During his address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, the pontiff denounced that \u201cby turning gestation into a negotiable service, the dignity of both is violated: that of the child, who is reduced to a \u2018product,\u2019 and that of the mother, by exploiting her body and the generative process and altering the original relational vocation of the family.\u201d<\/p>\n
In this context, Gallagher warned that surrogacy \u2014 although presented as \u201can act of generosity\u201d \u2014 reduces the person to an \u201cobject of transaction.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the sale of a child, handed over to the buyers by virtue of a contract that places the interests of the adults at the center, and not those of the children,\u201d he said emphatically.<\/p>\n
He also stated that it reduces women\u2019s bodies to a \u201cmere reproductive instrument,\u201d affecting the social conception of motherhood and human dignity.<\/p>\n
After recalling that feminist groups also reject surrogacy, Gallagher emphasized that it is \u201ca new form of colonialism\u201d that exploits the most vulnerable people and pointed out that women\u2019s consent is often the result of \u201cfinancial pressures.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, the Vatican official argued for the \u201ctotal abolition\u201d of surrogacy and expressed its opposition to the creation of an international regulatory framework, which, in his view, would lead to \u201cmore children destined to be sold.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event also included speeches by the Italian ambassador to the Holy See, Francesco Di Nitto; the dean of the diplomatic corps to the Holy See and ambassador of Cyprus, George Poulides; and Italian Minister for Family, Natality, and Equal Opportunities Eugenia Roccella.<\/p>\n
This story\u00a0was first published\u00a0by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News.<\/p>\n