Philomena Project

Philomena Project engages global child protection advocates on Catholic Church Canon Law 1083 child marriage reform, working to raise Canon Law minimum marriage age from 14 for girls and 16 for boys to 18 for all—and advancing human dignity at the intersection of child marriage, human trafficking, child labor, and child protection systems strengthening. In Southern and Eastern Africa’s thriving Catholic communities, nearly 20 million girls experience child marriage. For many, marriage and childbearing can curtail their education, endanger their health, and put them at greater risk of abuse, sexual assault, labor exploitation, or sex trafficking. Raising Catholic Church Canon Law marriage age to 18 for all would protect girls from violence, help girls reach their full potential in family, community, academic, and professional realms, and align this crucial Canon Law provision with Catholic teaching on human dignity. Raising the Catholic Church’s minimum marriage age would also help the Church fight child rape and child sex trafficking, bolster Catholic-Muslim fraternal work to end child marriage, and support the Church's engagement in civil discussions regarding age of sexual consent, statutory rape, and sexual offender registries.