Pope Francis has warned that pets are increasingly replacing children in households, exacerbating the deepening demographic crises in Italy and the rest of Western Europe.
The Argentine pontiff spoke Friday morning at the “States General of the Family,” a Rome-based symposium organized by Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing Italian government about ways to improve the country’s dramatic figures. Births in Italy fell below 400,000 last year, the lowest in more than 160 years, as the country has one of the lowest fertility rates in the EU.
According to the Pope, the dropping birth rate is mainly due to a lack of hope for the future, with younger generations feeling insecure and frail. “Difficulty in finding a stable job, sky-high rents and insufficient wages are real problems,” he said, which make it a “titanic effort” for middle class to start a family.
The pontiff also recounted an anecdote concerning a lady who had asked him to ‘bless her baby’. What she meant, however, was not a child, but a puppy dog instead. “I lost my patience and told her off: there are so many children who are hungry, and you’re bringing me a dog?” he added, as the crowd applauded.
Jorge Bergoglio finally urged politicans to find “forward-looking solutions to avoid Italy degenerating into sadness”.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, dressed in white like the pontiff, also declared Italy’s declining birth rate “is a national emergency.”
