The ‘Best Interest of the Child’ in Church Law: Profiles of Configur Ability and Application

Abstract

This contribution aims to examine the configurability of the principle of the "best interest of the child" within the framework of Church law. This right finds its source in the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and Adolescents (Article 3). While representing an undeniable milestone in the promotion of the rights of minors and, consequently, children’s rights, it is not without interpretative and applicative challenges. Can canonic law, with its specificities, accommodate such a concept ? Indeed, the Church’s intrinsic supernatural vocation and its anthropological dimension can offer a canonical interpretation of the child’s best interest, which may serve to strengthen the culture of childhood within Church law, also in a perspective of dialogue with civil legal systems.