CSDC 244

The Church's social doctrine constantly points out the need to respect the dignity of children. “In the family, which is a community of persons, special attention must be devoted to the children by developing a profound esteem for their personal dignity, and a great respect and generous concern for their rights. This is true for every child, but it becomes all the more urgent the smaller the child is and the more it is in need of everything, when it is sick, suffering or handicapped”⁵⁵⁴ John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, 26: AAS 74AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 74 (1982) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1982), 111-112.. The rights of children must be legally protected within juridical systems. In the first place, it is necessary that the social value of childhood be publicly recognized in all countries: “No country on earth, no political system can think of its own future otherwise than through the image of these new generations that will receive from their parents the manifold heritage of values, duties and aspirations of the nation to which they belong and of the whole human family”⁵⁵⁵ John Paul II, Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations (2 October 1979), 21: AAS 71AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 71 (1979) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1979), 1159; cf. John Paul II, Message to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the occasion of the World Summit for Children (22 September 1990): AAS 83AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 83 (1991) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1991), 358-361.. The first right of the child is to “be born in a real family”⁵⁵⁶ John Paul II, Address to the Committee of European Journalists for the Rights of the Child (13 January 1979): L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 22 January 1979, p. 5., a right that has not always been respected and that today is subject to new violations because of developments in genetic technology.