Vatican diplomat deplores violence against women, says differences between men and women must be recognized (Holy See Mission)

Addressing a session of the UN Human Rights Council, a Vatican diplomat said recently that the Holy See is “concerned by the increasing exploitation and violence against women and girls.”

“This includes femicide and rape, female genital mutilation, and prenatal sex selection, as well as practices that commodify the female body, such as surrogacy, prostitution, and pornography,” said Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland.

“These issues cannot be satisfactorily resolved or ended, without clearly defining and recognizing the specific vulnerabilities that women face due to their innate biological differences from men,” Archbishop Balestrero added. “When these objective realities are ignored, and sexual difference is obscured or deprioritized in law and culture, it is often women and girls who suffer the most, sometimes facing traumatic lifelong consequences.”