from: http://www.ccli.org/breastfeed/jp2_bf.shtml
Papal Statement on Breastfeeding
Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
by Pope John Paul II
May 12, 1995

On Friday, 12 May, the Holy Father met the participants in a study session
on breast-feeding, science and society organized by the Pontifical Academy
of Sciences and The Royal Society [of Great Britain]. In addition to the
immunological and nutritional benefits of breast-feeding, the Pope said,
"this natural way of feeding can create a bond of love and security between
mother and child, and enable the child to assert its presence as a person
through interaction with the mother". Here is the text of the Holy Father's
talk, which was given in English.

Your Eminences,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

1.  As always, it is a great pleasure to meet the distinguished participants
in the study sessions organized by the Pontifical Academy of Science, and I
thank Bishop James McHugh for his kind words of introduction. Today I am
especially happy to extend my appreciation to The Royal Society, which has
co-sponsored this significant meeting.
   True to its purpose and statutes, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
addresses itself to a wide range of scientific, social and ethical issues
which have a bearing on the Church's service to the human family, a service
which springs from the fundamental Gospel commandment of love. The Academy
plays a resourceful role in helping the Church, in particular the Holy See,
to fulfil this task of service with the benefit of the most expert
scientific knowledge and insights. Your studies and enquiries contribute to
the Church's supreme effort to journey hand in hand with humanity on its
path through temporal realities towards man's great and inexorable
transcendent destiny.

2.  On this occasion you have been invited to share your expertise on the
specific subject of: "Breast-feeding: science and society", as a part of the
overall study which the Academy is pursuing since 1990 on Population and
Resources. As scientists you direct your enquiry towards a better
understanding of the advantages of breast-feeding for the infant and for the
mother. As your Working Group can confirm, in normal circumstances these
include two major benefits to the child: protection against disease and
proper nourishment. Moreover, in addition to these immunological and
nutritional effects, this natural way of feeding can create a bond of love
and security between mother and child, and enable the child to assert its
presence as a person through the interaction with the mother.
    All of this is obviously a matter of immediate concern to countless
women and children, and something which clearly has general importance for
every society, rich or poor. One hopes that your studies will serve to
heighten public awareness of how much this natural activity benefits the
child and helps to create the closeness and maternal bonding so necessary
for healthy child development. So human and natural is this bond that the
Psalms use the image of the infant at its mother’s breast as a picture of
God’s care for man (cf. Ps 22:9). So vital is this interaction between
mother and child that my predecessor Pope Pius XII urged Catholic mothers,
if at all possible, to nourish their children themselves (cf. Allocution to
Mothers, 26 October 1941). From various perspectives therefore the theme is
of interest to the Church, called as she is to concern herself with the
sanctity of life and of the family.

3.    Worldwide surveys indicate that two-thirds of mothers still
breast-feed, at least to some extent. But statistics also show that there
has been a fall in the number of women who nourish their infants in this
way, not only in developed countries where the practice almost has to be
reinstituted, but also increasingly in developing countries. This decline is
traced to a combination of social factors such as urbanization and the
increasing demands placed on women, to healthcare policies and practices,
and to marketing strategies for alternate forms of nourishment.
    Yet the overwhelming body of research is in favor of natural feeding
rather than its substitutes. Responsible international agencies are calling
on governments to ensure that women are enabled to breast-feed their
children for four to six months from birth and to continue this practice,
supplemented by other appropriate foods, up to the second year of life or
beyond (cf. UNICEF, Children and Development in the 1990s, on the occasion
of the World Summit for Children, New York, 29-30 September, 1990). Your
meeting therefore intends to illustrate the scientific bases for encouraging
social policies and employment conditions which allow mothers to do this.
    In practical terms, what we are saying is that mothers need time,
information and support. So much is expected of women in many societies that
time to devote to breast-feeding and early care is not always available.
Unlike other modes of feeding, no one can substitute for the mother in this
natural activity. Likewise, women have a right to be informed truthfully
about the advantages of this practice, as also about the difficulties
involved in some cases. Healthcare professionals, too, should be encouraged
and properly trained to help women in these matters.

4.  In the recent encyclical Evangelium Vitae, I wrote that: "A family
policy must be the basis and driving force of all social policies.... It is
also necessary to rethink labor, urban, residential and social service
policies so as to harmonize working schedules with time available for the
family, so that it becomes effectively possible to take care of children and
the elderly" (No. 90).
    Is this a vague utopia, or is it the obligatory path to the genuine
well-being of society? Even this brief reflection on the very individual and
private act of a mother feeding her infant can lead us to a deep and
far-ranging critical rethinking of certain social and economic
presuppositions, the negative human and moral consequences of which are
becoming more and more difficult to ignore. Certainly, a radical
re-examination of many aspects of prevailing socio-economic patterns of
work, economic competitiveness and lack of attention to the needs of the
family is urgently necessary.

5.  I am therefore very grateful to all of you for offering your time and
co-operation to this meeting co-sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of
Sciences and The Royal Society. I look forward to the synthesis and report
of your findings so that this information may be widely circulated to our
Church agencies and interested institutions throughout the world. I pray for
the success of your research and for your own personal well-being. May God's
blessings of strength, joy and peace be with each one of you and the members
of your families.

Ann Marie Henninger RN BSN IBCLC RLC

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