Pope Francis worries over dearth of babies in Rome

* Laments that pets are replacing children at home

By Jon Egie with agency report

Pope Francis is worried about record decline of rate of birth of children saying the situation is a threat to the family institution which is the future of society.

Speaking at a conference in Rome on dearth of babies in Italy, Pope Francis highlighted urgent need for joint efforts to support families to address the demographic crisis, warning that “savage” free-market conditions are preventing young people from having children.

The Pope spoke at the third edition of the General States of Births meeting which was attended by Italian Prime Minister, Giogia Meloni.

He said the birth of children is the main indicator for measuring the hope of a people stressing that if, a few are born, it means that there is little hope.

There has been noticeable demographic crisis in Italy with birth rates shrinking for years and in 2022, hit a new historic low with only 393,000 new born.

These data, the Pope noted, reveal a feeling of precariousness and a growing concern of young people for the future which; wars, pandemic, mass displacements and climate crisis have contributed to accentuate.

The Pontiff observed that building a family has become a titanic effort especially for women as the social climate, rather than being a shared value and supports, pose difficulty of finding stable jobs, prohibitively expensive housing, skyrocketing rents and insufficient wages. These, he acknowledged, are almost insurmountable constraints on young women forced to choose between their career and motherhood.

“The family is not part of the problem, but part of its solution

All these problems challenge political authorities, because the free market, “without the necessary corrective measures, becomes savage and produces increasingly serious situations and inequalities.

“One does not overcome a crisis alone: either we all get out of it or we don’t get out of it; and we do not emerge from the crisis the same: we will emerge better or worse. This is today’s crisis.”

At the same time , the demographic crisis calls into question the current individualistic culture which privileges individual rights and freedoms, while ignoring the rights of families, the Pope added, lamenting that pets are replacing children in some households.

Hence the urgent need for a joint effort and for “forward-looking policies” to counteract this demographic winter, bearing in mind that “the family is not part of the problem, but part of its solution”.

“We cannot passively accept that so many young people struggle to realize their family dream and are forced to lower the bar of desire, settling for mediocre substitutes: making money, aiming for a career, travelling, jealously guarding leisure time,” the Pope remarked .

“We must face the problem together, without ideological barriers and preconceived positions.”

“A happy community naturally develops the desire to generate and integrate”, he said, “while an unhappy society is reduced to a sum of individuals trying to defend what they have at all costs”.

Bringing his address to a close, Pope Francis reiterated that the challenge of birth rate is a matter of hope”, which, he warned, “is not an illusion or emotion”, but a “concrete virtue” nourished “by everyone’s commitment to goodness”.

“Feeding hope is therefore a social, intellectual, artistic, political action in the highest sense of the word. It is putting one’s skills and resources at the service of the common good, it is sowing the future. Hope generates change and improves the future.”

He therefore upheld the “General States of Births” as an “opportunity to create a great alliance of hope”. “Indeed”, he said “hope calls us to get going to find solutions” to the crisis. “Reviving the birth rate means repairing the forms of social exclusion that are affecting young people and their future, “ the Pope concluded.

Demographic decline has become an issue of concern globally. In Nigeria, birth rate of children has declined by about 1.11 percent with statistics showing the current birth rate for Nigeria in 2023 is 36.026 births per 1000 people, a 1.14% decline from 2022. The birth rate for Nigeria in 2022 was 36.440 births per 1000 people, a 1.13% decline from 2021. The birth rate for Nigeria in 2021 was 36.855 births per 1000 people, a 1.11% decline from 2020. (Source: United Nations world population projects)

Credit: Vatican News