Pope Francis: “Help and protect millions of children still without rights”

The Holy Father has announced the World Meeting on Children's Rights entitled “Love them and protect them” next 3 February, and has established the Pontifical Committee for World Children's Day

VATICAN, 20 NOVEMBER – This morning, at the end of the Wednesday General Audience in Saint Peter’s Square, Pope Francis recalled the World Day of the Rights of the Child and Adolescent, instituted 35 years ago with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Already in 1924 with the Geneva Declaration, the Fifth General Assembly of the League of Nations had approved a five-point document where for the first time reference was made to the “rights of the child”.

“On the occasion of the World Day of the Rights of the Child and Adolescent, held today, I wish to announce that next 3 February the World Meeting on Children’s Rights, entitled “Love them and protect them”, will take place here in the Vatican, with the participation of experts and figures from various countries. It will be an opportunity to identify new ways of assisting and protecting millions of children who are still without rights, who live in precarious conditions, who are exploited and abused, and who suffer the dramatic consequences of wars.

There is a group of children preparing for this Day”, said the Holy Father, who was immediately surrounded by about a hundred children who ran to embrace him.

The Holy Father chose today to announce the institution of the Pontifical Committee for World Children’s Day. “Thank you to Pope Francis. All of this is a sign of witness and attention towards the future of the little ones of the world”, commented Fr. Enzo Fortunato, appointed Chair of the same Committee.

Fr. Enzo Fortunato and Aldo Cagnoli, deputy coordinator of World Children’s Day, who are preparing the event "World Leaders Summit on Children’s Rights”, with the Sant’Egidio Community and the Auxilium social cooperative, comment: “It is with great joy that we welcome Pope Francis’ invitation, ready to support with all possible commitment this important phase in continuity with the first World Children’s Day in September 2026. Pope Francis continues to summon the world to a new attention towards the young, increasingly often victims of wars and their consequences. To the Pope, the children of the world say simply: thank you”.

The children who met Pope Francis today come from diverse contexts: Catholic schools in Rome, the Indonesian community, Sant’Egidio Schools of Peace, Auxilium.