• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • Advertising
  • CR Radio
  • Printing
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Pope Francis blesses the womb of a pregnant woman during a meeting with new members of the Swiss Guard ahead of their swearing-in ceremony at the Vatican May 6, 2022. In a message sent May 12, 2022, to participants of a conference in Rome, Pope Francis said declining birth rates in Italy and Western countries are "impoverishing everyone's future." (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Declining birthrates impoverish future, pope says

May 12, 2022
By Junno Arocho Esteves
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, Respect Life, Vatican, World News

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The steady decline of birthrates across Europe and the West are signs of a new form of poverty that deprives humanity of a future, Pope Francis said.

Families unable to have children and young people who struggle with having a family due to economic hardship or the allure of “mediocre substitutes” risk turning the “beauty of a family full of children” into a “utopia, a dream that is difficult to fulfill,” the pope said in a message sent May 12 to participants of a conference on low birthrates in Italy.

“This is a new poverty that scares me,” he said. “It is the generative poverty of those who discount the desire for happiness in their hearts, of those who resign themselves to watering down their greatest aspirations, of those who are content with little and stop hoping for something great.”

According to the national statistics agency, ISTAT, Italy’s birthrate hit an all-time low with 399,431 births in 2021 compared to 404,892 in 2020. Italy, Malta, Spain, Greece and Luxembourg have the lowest fertility rates in Europe.

The two-day “General State of Birth Rates” conference, its website stated, aims to “make proposals to reverse the demographic trend” in Italy which has “worsened by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

In his message, the pope said that the decline in birthrates is a “very urgent problem” and that the failure to see it as a problem “is shortsighted attitude” that views the issue as “too complex and that nothing can be done.”

Recalling the conference’s theme, “It can be done,” the pope said it is a hopeful approach “against numbers that inexorably get worse each year.”

“‘It can be done’ means not passively accepting that things cannot change,” he said.

Pope Francis encouraged conference participants to seek new ways to “reverse the course of this cold, demographic winter.”

“Things can change if we engage each other without fear, going beyond partisan interests and ideological fences,” the pope said. “The data, the forecasts, the numbers are now known to all: we need concreteness. It is time to give real answers to families and young people. Hope cannot and must not die waiting.”

– – –

Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju

Read More Vatican News

Pope prays for Texas shooting victims, calls for stricter gun laws

Returning from Ukraine, Polish archbishop urges Vatican to revise attitude

Pope to set date for canonizations at consistory

Pope calls for united efforts in care for creation during Laudato Si’ Week

Pope thanks those dedicated to promoting life

Vatican foreign minister visits Ukraine in sign of solidarity, support

Copyright © 2022 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Junno Arocho Esteves

Catholic News Service is a leading agency for religious news. Its mission is to report fully, fairly and freely on the involvement of the church in the world today.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

Latest Local News

Close of Year of the Eucharist will be celebrated at Cathedral of Mary Our Queen

Baltimore native to be ordained Jesuit priest

Sulpicians elect Father Daniel Moore as provincial superior

Former St. Rita School teacher dies

Archdiocese of Baltimore ordains 9 transitional deacons

Latest World News

Church presence in Uvalde, Texas, gives strength, love, archbishop says

Mary, Star of the Sea, protects mariners and is guide for all, bishop says

Bishops push gun control; some call mass shootings ‘pressing life issue’

Remembering Buffalo shooting victims, Catholics pray for end to racism

Pope prays for Texas shooting victims, calls for stricter gun laws

Catholic Review Radio

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Close of Year of the Eucharist will be celebrated at Cathedral of Mary Our Queen
  • MOVIE REVIEW: Top Gun: Maverick
  • MOVIE REVIEW: The Bob’s Burgers Movie
  • Church presence in Uvalde, Texas, gives strength, love, archbishop says
  • Mary, Star of the Sea, protects mariners and is guide for all, bishop says
  • Bishops push gun control; some call mass shootings ‘pressing life issue’
  • Baltimore native to be ordained Jesuit priest
  • Sulpicians elect Father Daniel Moore as provincial superior
  • Finding solace in faith after shootings provide another reminder of horrific day

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2022 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED