ROCKFORD, IL, May 14, 2007 – At its closing session, the 3,000-plus delegates to World Congress of Families IV (Warsaw, May 11-13) endorsed the Warsaw Declaration – a pro-family credo for the 21st century.

With the family under attack in Europe, the United States and elsewhere, delegates felt the urgent need to set forth basic principles for the international pro-family movement.

The Declaration notes that, “The natural family, creation of God, is the fundamental human community, based on the life-long marriage between a man and a woman, in which new individuals are conceived, born and raised.”

In the words of the Declaration: “Such families bring to the world today:

• Faithfulness to the Divine truth versus relativism;

• Real love, being the complete and impartial gift of oneself, versus hedonism;

• Faithfulness in love throughout life, versus lack of responsibility toward those closest to us;

• Respect for the life of every human being from conception to natural death, versus discrimination against and extermination of the weakest;

• Joyful responsibility for every child-to-be, versus fear of the child expressed in the contraceptive mentality;

• A moral community in which young generations can grow, versus false ideologies propagating demoralization;

• And, last but not least, the ‘springtime’ of a civilization of love and life, versus ‘demographic winter.’”

The Declaration issued a number of calls, including for:

• “Churches and other religious communities to proclaim the truth about life, marriage, and the family .…”

• “Governing and political bodies to mainstream the family in public policy as a fundamental and inalienable social good, in order to serve their own nations.”

• “Health professionals to uphold freedom of conscience and to faithfully safeguard human life, especially when it is weakest and most threatened.”

• “Young people to seek wisdom, to choose life, to preserve their hearts and body, and to grow with a focus on truth and faithful love.”

World Congress of Families International Secretary Allan Carlson noted that, “The Warsaw Declaration does not contain specific policy recommendations but instead offers a broad vision of the natural family as ‘the fundamental human community’ and creates a framework for pro-family activism.”

The complete Warsaw Declaration may be found at http://www.worldcongress.org/WCF4/wcf4.dec.htm.

(Press release from the World Congress of Families)

WEBSITES: www.profam.org, www.worldcongress.org, www.worldcongress.pl or www.familymanifesto.net