Statement by H.E. Archbishop Gabriele Caccia Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations 69th Commission on the Status of Women Side Event
Opening address at side event “‘A singularly important role’: motherhood in today’s world”
18 March 2025, organized by the Holy See
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Speakers,
Delegates to the Commission on the Status of Women,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear friends,
Thank you very much for joining us at our side event, “‘A singularly important role’: motherhood in today’s world.” The title comes from John Paul II’s Message for the XXVII World Day of Peace (1995) on “Women: Teachers of Peace,” in which he examines woman’s contributions to peacemaking within herself, her family, and in society.
Women’s contributions, including as mothers, remain vital today. As Pope Francis has said, “A society without mothers would be a dehumanized society, for mothers are always, even in the worst moments, witnesses of tenderness, dedication and moral strength.”[1]
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (or BDPA) also recognizes the importance of motherhood. It asserts that women “play a critical role in the family” and that women’s contributions to the family and the development of society are not fully recognized.[2] It also calls for the acknowledgment of the “social significance of maternity, motherhood and the role of parents,” while stressing that raising children is a shared responsibility.[3] The BDPA also addresses challenges like the need to eliminate maternal mortality and early marriage for women and girls’ wellbeing.[4] It further states that mothers should be supported to continue their education[5], which is vital for both women and children’s flourishing, and in their work, including through leave schemes and support for breastfeeding.[6] Lastly, it encourages sharing media on women leaders and their wide variety of experiences, including as mothers.[7]
Yet despite these affirmations and commitments, mothers have fallen by the wayside in the intervening time. To some extent, this is likely due to a legitimate concern that invoking women’s capacity for motherhood has been used to limit or reduce them only to motherhood. Any such reductionist view of women must be rejected, as must be any assumption that all women are called to motherhood. However, we must also be cautious not to overcorrect: by ignoring motherhood we risk devaluing that which is unique to women and, as a result, failing to meet their needs.
As John Paul II wrote in advance of Beijing, “The challenge facing most societies is that of upholding, indeed strengthening, woman’s role in the family while at the same time making it possible for her to use all her talents and exercise all her rights in building up society.”[8] Thirty years later, we have made strides in some areas but much work remains and new challenges have emerged. I look forward to hearing from our distinguished panelists on this important topic and thank all of our guests for joining us today.
[1] Pope Francis, General Audience, 7 January 2015.
[2] Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, no. 29, Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women (A/Conf.177/20/Rev.1), 1995 [hereafter BDPA].
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid. at Nos. 93, 268
[5] Ibid. at Nos. 80(g), 88(b), and 277(a).
[6] Ibid. at No.179(c).
[7] Ibid. at No. 245(b).
[8] John Paul II, Letter to Mrs. Gertrude Mongella, Secretary-General of the Fourth World Conference on Women of the United Nations, 26 May 1995.
The full event can viewed on UN Web TV here.
