Women and men of different religions speak at the United Nations about the family as a fundamental subject of social development
Even before considering the different topics addressed by the speakers, what is striking about this event, organized by the Permanent Representative of the Holy See at the United Nations, is the intertwining that the meeting made very clear: the family’s centrality characterizes all the monotheistic religious experiences (the Argentine Rabbi Abraham Skorka and the Ambassador of Qatar, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, were among the speakers) and the family is recognized by the entire comity of nations as a valuable and irreplaceable asset.
In this context, Archbishop Paglia, in his intervention, addressed the subject in five basic steps: the uniqueness of the family structure within the different social forms; the family’s role in the development of human society; the current changes in the understanding of the family institution; the family‘s ability to regenerate a society sick with individualism; and, finally, the on-going reflection that the Catholic Church has initiated on the family thanks to Pope Francis’ decision to hold a dual Synod on the subject.