Holy See: Family at the heart of human development

May 17, 2014: Family not only “matters for the achievement of development goals,” it is rather at the very heart of human development, indispensable and irreplaceable, and at the same time beautiful and welcoming said a top Vatican official addressing the United Nations.

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the President of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family in his address on the occasion of the 2014 International Day of Families at United Nations Headquarters on May 15^th.commenting on the theme of the annual observance, “Families Matter for the Achievement of Development Goals.” He said, his message was that the family not only “matters,” it is rather at the very heart of human development and is indispensable and irreplaceable, at the same time beautiful and welcoming. Truly, it is a precious resource, an incomparable font of life for the affective, spiritual, other-serving and generative aspects of our human existence he added.

This year the International Day of Families commemorated the twentieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family, which was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1994 to raise awareness of the importance of families, promote knowledge of socio-economic and demographic trends affecting families and stimulate efforts to respond to challenges faced by families.