The Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Laity is launching a continental personhood petition that would recognize the dignity of human life from the moment of conception. Pro-life organizations from twenty-one European Union states will be represented in the petition organization committee.
To bring the issue before the EU, volunteers must collect 1 million signatures, but both the Pontifical Council for the Laity and Personhood USA believe that this presents an unprecedented opportunity to make a significant pro-life statement by gathering several million more.
At the Global Pro-Life Unity Summit sponsored by Personhood USA, Human Life International, and LifeSiteNews.com, delegations from Romania, Portugal, Poland, Ireland, and Hungary shared their desire to pursue a European personhood initiative and to apply the initiative methodology utilized in the United States. The Vatican’s European personhood petition shares the spirit of the Lisbon Declaration released by organizations at the summit.
Personhood USA, which helped pioneer the citizen-led ballot initiative methodology in states across America, is excited to announce that it joins in solidarity with its pro-personhood European allies and endorses the new Vatican-backed pro-life initiative.
The personhood movement mirrors Pope John Paul II’s statements on the dignity of the human person in his groundbreaking encyclical “Evangelium Vitae,” as well as conforming to the teachings on life in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states: “From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person — among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life” (Catholic Catechism, 2270).
The Vatican’s Pontifical Council is calling this petition a “significant opportunity to send a wake-up call to the people of Europe.” Perhaps this is the counter-cultural movement that will revitalize life on the European continent!
If you live in the European Union, here’s more information about how you can sign the petition.
