Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Catholic News

Home

Home
Catholic
Religion News
Want to empower women? Support mothers, politician argues

Want to empower women? Support mothers, politician argues

Last updated on: May 22, 2015 at 3:45 pm by CNA Daily News

Want to empower women? Support mothers, politician argues 2015-05-22T15:45:00+00:00 CNA Daily News

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Vatican City, May 22, 2015 / 09:45 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Ahead of a conference discussing the presence of women in the 2015 development agenda, organizers said goals fall short of addressing issues such as attacks on motherhood and surrogacy.

“Today we live, at least in western society, in an abortive society. It doesn’t welcome life. If a second child comes they ask you ‘but do you want it?’ So maternity is not welcomed…today whoever has more children is penalized,” Olimpia Tarzia told CNA May 21.

She said that to marginalize motherhood in such a way is “the greatest damage a society can do to itself, because it doesn’t invest in the future.”

Tarzia is an Italian politician and president of the World Women’s Alliance for Life and Family. The organization is partnering with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in in organizing a May 22-24 conference at the Vatican discussing women in the post-2015 development agenda.

The conference is titled “Women and the post-2015 Development Agenda: the Challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More than 100 delegates from across the globe will take part in the discussions.

On the table for discussion are various issues related to women, including modernity, the so-called gender theory, surrogate motherhood, education, interreligious dialogue, both old and new forms of slavery, poverty, violence and “femicide.”

In her speech for the May 21 presentation of the conference, Tarzia made specific reference to the fifth SDG, which is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”

“How can you think of ‘empowering women’ without making some reference to the social protection of maternity, the harmonization between work and family time, to the right to be free to welcome life?” she asked.

And “how can you achieve true equality without taking into account that most women are often simultaneously working, mothers and, due to the elongation of age, also daughters, and at any latitude, the duties of care are mostly entrusted to her?” she continued.

Tarzia also referred to the very first SDG, which commits to “end poverty in all its forms.” This goal, she said, is inseparable from “the brutal practice of a new heinous slavery, the uterus for rent, better known as surrogate motherhood.”

Surrogacy not only takes advantage of situations of poverty, but also reduces women to “a mere incubator and tramples on them” as well as the children they carry, she said.

The current of a society indoctrinated by individualism, moral relativism and a utilitarian logic tied exclusively to profit have all contributed to “commercializing even the human being.”

If the eradication of poverty is ever to be expedited, then a strong fight must be made against “the uterus for rent, of maternal surrogacy. Because it’s a new form of slavery,” she observed.

In her comments to CNA, Tarzia said that the topic of surrogacy is an issue of women’s equality since “there is no doubt” it is linked to both civil unions and artificial fertilization. These, she said, are all issues which “manipulate life.”

She revealed that another goal of the conference is to counteract gender theory, which she said “destroys the family founded on a man and a woman, and so doing also destroys society.”

Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, was also present at the May 21 presentation of the conference.

In response to journalists’ questions, he explained that the basis of gender theory comes from the belief that rather than having an inherent nature, a person’s sexuality is determined by society.

Under this theory the concept of male and female are “untied from the nature of the person. So sexuality and gender don’t have anything to do the body,” he said.

“The body can come with all of its signs, but this, according to them, is not an indication of the gender of a person,” the cardinal continued, saying that a person is considered either male or female not because their bodies are, but “because society has programmed them like this…this is why it’s called ‘theory.’”

Tarzia also stressed the importance of re-exploring the “new feminism” called for by St. John Paul II in his 1995 encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” in handling women’s issues.

She noted how her organization, founded in 2007, was formed with the goal of defending women and life, which the encyclical “prophetically” called for.

To fight for an end to the problematic phenomena surrounding women and society that will be addressed, Tarzia said, is an answer to St. John Paul II’s call.

Vatican

Previous Post

May 22, 2015

Pope's visit to Vatican departments a 'beautiful experience,' official says

Next Post

May 22, 2015 History versus caricature: 3 facts that show us the real Romero

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Americas Asia - Pacific Europe Middle East - Africa Uncategorized US Vatican

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who is the coauthor of some of Paul's epistles and delivered them to churches?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Silas Barnabas Timothy Andrew