Pope urges governments to make courageous and effective decisions in favor of the family, ROME, IT - 10 May 2024
Pope Francis called Friday for a "greater commitment of governments" to increase the birth rate and "in favor of the family", with "serious", "courageous" and "effective" decisions because without children "there is no hope for the future", at an event in Rome in which he appeared surrounded by children. IMAGES: DANIEL CÁCERES FOOTAGE OF THE FORUM GENERAL STATES OF NATALITY SOUNDBITES OF POPE FRANCISCO. 1) In the past, there was no lack of studies and theories warning about the number of inhabitants of the Earth, because the birth of too many children would create economic imbalances, lack of resources, and pollution. I have always been struck by how these theses, now outdated and long outdated, spoke of human beings as if they were a problem. But human life is not a problem, it is a gift. And at the root of pollution and hunger in the world are not the children who are born, but the decisions of those who think only of themselves, the delirium of unbridled, blind, and unrestrained materialism, of consumerism that, like a malignant virus, undermines the existence of people and society. The problem is not how many of us there are in the world, but what kind of world we are building; it is not children, but selfishness, which creates injustices and structures of sin, to the point of weaving unhealthy interdependencies between social, economic, and political systems. 2) There is no lack of dogs, no lack of cats? there is a lack of children! The problem of our world is not that children are born. It is selfishness, consumerism, and individualism that make people satiated, lonely, and unhappy. 3) The number of births is the first indicator of the hope of people without children and young people. A country loses its desire for the future. In Italy, for example, the average age is now 47. And there are countries in Central Europe that have a median age of 24 years. 47 years and we continue to break new negative records, unfortunately. Unfortunately, if we were to go by this figure, we would be forced to say that Italy i