Pope Francis called on politicians “to find solutions to stop the decline in the birth rate in Italy,” warning of a “demographic winter,” and that young people are facing “tremendous efforts” to establish families in a difficult environment, and also warning that pets should not replace children. In Italy.
He criticized “selfish” choices that have led to a record low birth rate that threatens Italy’s economic future, in a speech in Rome during a conference on the country’s birth rate, where Pope Francis was flanked by Italy’s conservative Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Pope Francis stressed that “the low birth rate indicates a lack of hope for the future, as the younger generations feel uncertain, fragile and instability.”
“The difficulty in finding a stable job, the difficulty in keeping it, expensive homes, very high rents and insufficient wages are real problems,” he said, explaining that “the free market, without the necessary corrective measures, becomes wild and produces increasingly dangerous situations and inequality.”
In the context, Pope Francis acknowledged the existence of “almost insurmountable restrictions” on young women who are forced to choose between their career and motherhood. He stated that due to the high costs of raising children, people are reconsidering their priorities, considering that “we cannot passively accept that many young people are struggling to fulfill the dream of their families and are forced to lower the level of desire, and settle for modest alternatives: earning money, pursuing work, and traveling.” and jealously guarding their leisure.”
