At a UN committee meeting devoted to the promotion and protection of the rights of children, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, said that abortion and child pornography are violations of children’s rights.

The prelate’s statement was delivered by his deputy, Msgr. Robert Murphy.

“Effectively promoting and protecting the rights of children also requires the rejection of all practices that reduce the human person to an object,” Archbishop Caccia stated. “This mentality undergirds the practice of abortion, which treats children as discardable, including in instances of sex-selective abortion or abortion on the basis of disability.”

“Moreover, child pornography is a particularly heinous and grave crime,” he continued. As Pope Francis has noted, it is a mistake to ‘think that a society where an abnormal consumption of internet sex is rampant among adults could be capable of effectively protecting minors.’”

Archbishop Caccia warned that “the objectification of children is not limited to child pornography. It also occurs in practices such as surrogacy, which turns a child into the mere object of an absolute desire to be satisfied and cannot be justified by sympathetic motivations.”