Vatican diplomat pushes back against language of plant, animal, and fungi rights
September 19, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: In a dialogue with an official of the UN Human Rights Council, a leading Vatican diplomat pushed back against language in a UN report that would extend the right to development to include future generations of “plants, animals and fungi,” as well as human beings (p. 77).
Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, addressed his concerns to Surya Deva, the UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on the right to development:
The Holy See has consistently underlined the interconnectedness of human beings with the rest of creation. However, only human beings are rights holders, not other living organisms, a principle reflected in the UN Charter, the UDHR and many other international instruments.
The Holy See wishes to reaffirm that only the human person created in the image and likeness of God, has an absolute inviolable dignity. It is imperative to respect the “grammar” inscribed by the Creator, who has given to humankind the role of steward and caretaker, responsible for creation: a role that the person must not abuse, but also a role that must not be relinquished.
In discussing the right to development, Archbishop Balestrero, citing Pope Francis, emphasized intergenerational solidarity and noted “the moral and spiritual dimensions” of development, “since the human person is a unity of body and soul.”
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