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In an op-ed published by El diario Montañés on 15 April, Bishop Manuel Sánchez Monge of Santander, Spain, criticised “sustainable development” and its aims as codified by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”).

“Behind Agenda 2030 lies an attempt to change civilisation, a new world order that will change the beliefs of individuals. It is a globalist system [ ] aimed at establishing an unelected and undemocratic world government,” he wrote.

The following is Bishop Sánchez Monge’s op-ed as translated by LifeSiteNews.

The 2030 Agenda and the New World Order 

by Bishop Manuel Sánchez Monge

The philosopher Higinio Marín, professor of philosophical anthropology at CEU Cardenal Herrera University, has highlighted the true nature of an agenda promoted by globalist elites that has a marked statist and relativistic character. 

The Sustainable Development Goals (“sustainable” is now a magic word that is used for everything) are for the most part laudable and acceptable to all: protection of nature, eradication of poverty and hunger in the world, water available to all, etc. All are formulated in a language that is sufficiently ambiguous to lend itself to the most diverse interpretations. But behind the Agenda 2030 lies an attempt to change civilization, a new world order that will change the beliefs of individuals. It is a globalist system – which has nothing to do with globalisation – aimed at establishing an unelected and undemocratic world government. The document contains brilliant generalities to make people believe that if all power is given to the United Nations and Agenda 2030, everything will be fine. But no, the 2030 Agenda is a trap. 

It sees the family as an environment conducive to discrimination and inequality. In the 2030 Agenda, family and religion are presented as elements of conflict. Religion and family are problems, not solutions. For example, having children, spousal responsibility or generosity in marriage are not part of this new common sense. Nor do they [the promoters of the SDGs] accept that education belongs to parents. 

Then there are issues that are clearly unacceptable from the perspective of Catholic doctrine. Take the example of sexual and reproductive health. Abortion and the massive use of contraceptives are encouraged. There is another very serious aspect: so-called gender equality. Agenda 2030 uses the terminology of gender ideology and contemporary secularist and statist political correctness. The intention is to establish a new world order that excludes many institutions, especially those with a Christian foundation. It is the state that determines the way of life, thus generating a relativism that makes tolerance the moral value par excellence. Should we also be tolerant of evil? They [the SDGs] are freedom-killers and generate relativism. They assume that everything can and must be chosen; even gender is a matter of feeling. 

There are Christian institutions that accept the 2030 Agenda. They claim that they do so to avoid being excluded from the public debate, or to avoid self-marginalisation. They want to obtain aid that would be denied them if they did not take it into account. But being called Christian carries with it demands that cannot be evaded. 

Our societies today are polarised beyond return. There are two versions of the West that are increasingly antagonistic. We are reaching a point where the different worldviews have so little in common that we can barely speak common languages. 

If we lift up our eyes a little, we can also see that we are experiencing a revival. There is a resurgence of Christian families, as we can see in some places in France and Spain. The image of a married couple with three or more children offers a joyful and loving vision of life. This is where the renewal lies. The Christian marriage of young people who live generously is the most directly visible contemporary form of Christian joy in life. Joy is the social sign of possessing something good. And those parents who go out into the street with more children than modern common sense would dictate have immense transformative power.