ROME — Pope Francis on Friday lamented the continuing decline in population in Western countries, arguing that the decline in the number of children shows a lack of hope for the future.
Pope counters ‘outdated’ myths about dangerous overpopulation fought Far from being the problem, humans can solve the world’s problems.
Although he did not name names, the pope appeared to refer to figures like Paul Ehrlich, the Stanford biologist who wrote the 1968 Eschatology. bestseller population bombsparking hysteria over the future of the world and the Earth’s ability to sustain human life.
Ehrlich’s predictions turned out to be spectacularly wrong, including that hundreds of millions of people would starve to death in the 1970s (65 million of them Americans) and that an already overpopulated India would be ruined. I once predicted that it was doomed and that perhaps Britain would not exist in the 2000s. the year of 2000.
In a speech to the General Fertility Conference, an annual conference held in Rome by the Italian government to discuss the declining birthrate, Francis said that “every gift from a child is a sign of God’s trust in humanity. It reminds me,” he said. That’s not a coincidence. God wanted us. ”
The root of the world’s pollution and hunger lies not in the birth of too many children, but rather in the “choices of people who think only of themselves, unchecked blind and rampant materialism, and the derangement of consumerism.” “, he claimed. Like an evil virus, it erodes the existence of people and society. ”
The pope added that the house “has become a very sad place, filled with things and children gone.” “There is no shortage of dogs and cats. …We are not lacking these things. We are lacking children.”
“The problem in our world is not children being born; it is selfishness, consumerism and individualism that keep people full, lonely and unhappy,” he said. Ta.
According to the Pope, the birth rate is “the first indicator of a people’s hopes.”
Noting that the average age of Italian citizens has now risen to 47, he said: “Without children and young people, the country loses its ambition for the future.”
Based on these data, “we would have to say that Italy, like other European countries, is gradually losing hope for tomorrow,” he said.
“The Old Continent is turning into an increasingly old continent, a tired and resigned continent, obsessed with banishing loneliness and suffering, no longer knowing how to enjoy the true beauty of life in a giving civilization. ” he said.
The Pope went on to say that in a conversation with a demographer, he told him that the investments that generate the highest income are “weapons manufacturing and contraceptives.”
“One destroys life. The other prevents life. And these are the most profitable investments. What future can we expect? ” he said.
In his speech, Francis also called for further social and governmental action to create an economic and cultural environment in which couples can have children more freely.
For example, he said mothers should be freed “from having to choose between work and raising children,” and young couples should be freed “from the burden of job insecurity and the inability to buy a home.” said it should.
