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Pope Francis says only wealthy people can afford to have children in Italy. Photo/REUTERS
ROMA – Pope Francis said starting a family in Italy had been a “giant endeavor” only the wealthy could afford. The Vatican leader warned that “barbaric” free market conditions prevent young people from having children.
Italy’s birth rate fell below 400,000 in 2022 for the first time, recording the 14th consecutive annual decline, with the overall population declining by 179,000 to 58.85 million.
Addressing a conference on the growing demographic crisis, Pope Francis said falling birth rates signal a lack of hope for the future, with young people burdened by a sense of uncertainty, fragility and precariousness.
“The difficulty in finding a stable job, the difficulty in keeping one, the very expensive houses, high rents and insufficient wages are the real problems,” he said, sitting next to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
“Free markets, without the necessary corrective measures, go barbaric and produce increasingly serious situations and inequalities,” he said, as quoted by Reuters, Friday (12/5/2023).
The Pope said pets were replacing children in some households and related how a woman at a recent audience opened her bag and asked for the papal blessing for “her baby”, only to reveal it was a dog.
“I lost my patience and scolded him saying many children are starving and you brought me a dog,” he said.
But she admits that there are almost insurmountable obstacles to young women being forced to choose between careers and motherhood. Given the high cost of raising children, he continued, people are revising their priorities.
“We cannot passively accept that so many young people struggle to fulfill their family’s dreams and are forced to lower the bar of desire, choosing mediocre substitutes: making money, pursuing a career, traveling, jealously guarding free time,” he said.
A shrinking population is a major concern for the euro zone’s third-largest country, with the economy minister warning this week that Italy’s GDP risks falling by 18 points over the next two decades if the current trend of births continues.
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