Virgin Mary by Sassoferrato. / Credit: Public domain

ACI Prensa Staff, May 10, 2024 / 16:45 pm (CNA).

Along with other saints, every May 10 the Church honors St. John of Avila, the patron saint of the Spanish clergy. This renowned founder of schools and centers of formation and study recorded in one of his writings what he considered to be the best gift we can give to our heavenly mother, the Virgin Mary.

St. John of Avila’s recommendation appears today in a section of the website of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference. In the text, St. John of Avila asks himself: “What shall I do for the virgin? God has given me many good things through her.”

The answer to the question, the saint says, is found in the Gospel account of the wedding feast at Cana. 

There, the Virgin pointed out to her Son that the wine had run out. When Jesus responds, “What concern is that to you and me? My hour is not yet come,” it seems that nothing is going to happen. Nonetheless, the Mother of God immediately proceeds to tell the servants: “Do whatever he tells you.”

St. John of Avila says the Virgin’s words are tantamount to a brief and powerful sermon. With those few words, he says, she preached “as much as Isaiah, St. Paul, St. Luke, and all the prophets and apostles.”

“Listen to what I want to tell you; perhaps from the mouth of the Mother it will be imprinted on your hearts: Do whatever my Son tells you, (Jn 2:5). And so the greatest service you can do for her is to do what her Son commands,” St. John of Avila said.

The beloved saint then provides examples of things that can be done for love of the Virgin, such as forgiving an injury, giving up an inappropriate love, keeping quiet and remaining silent, or: “whatever pains me the most to do or to stop doing, offer it for the Virgin.”

The saint also points out that just loving the Virgin but not imitating her is of little benefit.

“Let us imitate her in humility and in the other virtues, for she is the model from whom we must obtain the virtues, and in so doing, we shall obtain grace and then glory,” he concludes.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Pro-life supporters march in this year's March for Life in Ottawa, Canada, May 9, 2024. / Credit: Peter Stockland

Ottawa, Canada, May 10, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

Thousands of pro-lifers packed onto Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, and spilled out onto Wellington Street on May 9 for the 27th annual National March for Life.

The diverse crowd gathered on the Hill at noon with its members bearing both homemade and professionally crafted signs pledging them to stand fast for the unborn and vulnerable.

The march’s theme, “I Will Never Forget You” was taken from the prophet Isaiah’s poignant question: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast?”

The rally and march were broadcast live by the U.S. cable network EWTN. (Editor’s note: EWTN is the parent company of Catholic News Agency.)

This year’s speakers included pro-life speaker and author Abby Johnson, President of 40 Days for Life Shawn Carney, and Campaign Life Coalition Vice-Chair Jeff Gunnarson.

The opening prayer was led by Father Daniel Szwarc, OMI, who traveled to Ottawa from the Arctic Circle together with three young women engaged in pro-life activities in their small Inuit village of Naujaat.

Diana Kringayark told the crowd that every week she and the other women buy baby products to distribute to 40 village families to show that “every baby is important.”

Ottawa Archbishop Marcel Damphousse encouraged the marchers to act with “courage, compassion, and conviction."

Conservative members of Parliament Cathay Wagantall and Arnold Viersen were the only federal politicians to address the crowd.

In her brief speech, Wagantall emphasized that advocating for the unborn and the vulnerable is particularly difficult for Canadian politicians. But she hailed the number of young people in the crowd as a sign of hope.

“If you think it is a battle out here, you know it is a battle in there,” the Saskatchewan member of Parliament said, indicating the Houses of Parliament behind her.

Angelina Steenstra of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign introduced Nathalia Comrie, a young woman who, at 17, was pregnant and felt that “abortion was the only choice my family would accept.” She said she was told that “everything would go back to normal after the abortion.”

“That was a lie,” Comrie said. After years of depression and substance abuse, she was introduced to the Sisters of Life, and through them to other women who, like her, had suffered as the result of abortion.

“I will never forget my son Kaeden. He is why I am silent no more,” Comrie said.

In the crowd of clergy, habited religious sisters, elderly, schoolchildren, and loud teenagers were women who had found themselves, like Comrie, in situations where they felt pressured and alone.

Christa Ranson came to the March for Life from Montreal because she knew what it was to have considered abortion.

Ranson had been scheduled to undergo an abortion on two separate occasions. The first time she was actually on the table being prepped for the abortion when she decided not to go through with it. The second time, after hearing her son’s heartbeat by ultrasound, Ranson decided she “just couldn’t do it.”

Ranson said she now tells her son: “I loved you when you were just a heartbeat.”

When asked why it was important for her to come to the March for Life, she told Canada’s The Catholic Register that it was to let women know there is a choice other than abortion.

“What a lot of people don’t realize is that, when you are on that table, those babies are living, they have a heart, they have feelings.”

“I want other women to know that even if it is difficult, it will be okay and it is worth it. If women are making the decision because of health reasons, or financial reasons, they should reach out. There are resources out there, there are doctors out there who will help.”

This article was originally published by Canada’s The Catholic Register and is reprinted here with permission. 

Vatican Dicastery for Communications prefect Paolo Ruffini and Vatican Secretary-General Sister Raffaella Petrini inaugurate the photographic exhibition titled “Changes” on May 7, 2024, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. / Credit: Elizabeth Alva/EWTN News

ACI Prensa Staff, May 10, 2024 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

A photographic exhibition titled “Changes” opened this week in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, showcasing the effects of climate change and the creative work of God.

The Dicastery for Communication explained in a press release that this exhibition makes reference to St. Francis of Assisi’s  “Canticle of the Creatures,” also known as the “Canticle of the Sun.” The exhibition aims to show “the contrasts of the effects of climate change” as well as “the hope that the emotions engendered by the creative work of God give.”

The exhibition was developed as part of the project “Emotions to Generate Changes” and will be open to the public through May 27.

Taking part in the initiative were the Dicastery for Communication in collaboration with the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Laudato Si’ Higher Education Center.

The words to the “Canticle of the Creatures” accompany the 24 photographs, with a reference to Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on the climate crisis, Laudate Deum.

The selected photos, according to the organizers, present a contrast “between the beauty and wonder of creation and the destruction of climate change, both for our environment and for people around the world.” 

The Dicastery for Communication further stated that this initiative “aims to reflect on the actions that must be undertaken to praise God in the same powerful way as St. Francis in a time of socio-ecological crisis.”

The name “Changes” refers “both to climate change and its impacts, which we are experiencing with increasing intensity, and to the challenge of changing our perspective and our actions,” the press release stated.

The photographs come from Borneo, Bangladesh, Togo, Ethiopia, Amazonia, Florida, Greece, Italy, Iceland, Australia, and Turkey and are mounted on supports made from wood recovered after the 2018 Vaia storm that heavily damaged forests in the Italian province of Trento.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Bishop James Ruggieri prays during his ordination Mass in Portland, Maine on May 7, 2024. / Credit: McKenney Photography

National Catholic Register, May 10, 2024 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

New Bishop James Ruggieri became a Third Order Franciscan not long before his ordination in Portland, Maine, on Tuesday — a marker of why Pope Francis appointed him.

Ruggieri, 56, profiled by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, in April, is known for driving a food truck to homeless people when he was a pastor in Providence, Rhode Island.

“His love for the poor and the homeless certainly reflect these Franciscan ideals. And I am certain that the themes of the life of St. Francis and his spirituality will be reflected in the ministry of our new bishop, just as it is in the ministry of Pope Francis,” said Cardinal Seán O’Malley, a Capuchin Franciscan, the archbishop of Boston, and the principal consecrator of the new bishop during his ordination Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland.

The papal nuncio, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, also highlighted poverty, quoting a November 2022 message from Pope Francis marking the World Day of the Poor that said: “Where the poor are concerned, it is not talk that matters; what matters is rolling up our sleeves and putting our faith into practice through a direct involvement, one that cannot be delegated.”

“Your closeness to the poor is one of the reasons that the Holy Father has decided to make you the shepherd of an even greater number of people,” Pierre said near the beginning of the Mass, before presenting Ruggieri with his letter of appointment from the pope.

Lack of material means is one type of poverty, Pierre said, but a bishop must also address “the many faces of poverty in our culture,” including what he called “the poverty that exists where Christ is not known, or where his love and mercy are not fully appreciated by those who are struggling to recognize their own dignity.”

O’Malley gave the sermon. As archbishop of Boston, the cardinal is also the metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Boston, which includes the Diocese of Portland.

O’Malley said Ruggieri is “being called to be a teacher of the faith” and that bishops “must be witnesses of the resurrection.”

In former times, he said, the Church was persecuted because of what it taught about Jesus, Mary, and the sacraments.

“Today so often the attacks on the Church come because of the Church’s teachings about the dignity of each and every human being, the centrality of life, and the Church’s social gospel. Of all of these truths, you must be a herald, proclaiming the good news with clarity, with enthusiasm, and with joy,” O’Malley said.

Ruggieri is now the 13th bishop of the Diocese of Portland, which includes all of Maine. He replaced Bishop Robert Deeley, 77, who is planning to stay in the diocese to assist as bishop emeritus.

“My joy would be complete if Bishop Deeley would grow a beard and become a Capuchin,” O’Malley said during his sermon, to laughter.

The cardinal served from 1992 to 2002 as bishop of Fall River, which is only about 16 miles from Providence, which is known for its Italian restaurants.

“The new bishop is from Providence. I could see Providence from my house on Highland Avenue in Fall River. And I was an occasional pilgrim to Federal Hill. After all, the shortest book in the world is the Irish cookbook, so ...” O’Malley said, to laughter.

Then he made a pun using Ruggieri’s previous home city, calling his appointment as bishop “an act of God’s providence.”

“God’s loving providence is giving us the new Catholic bishop here, in this local Church of Portland. In that sense, he’s not just a priest of Providence, but he is a providential bishop, a gift of God’s loving care for us. And we receive him with joy and with thanksgiving,” O’Malley said.

Ruggieri spoke for about eight minutes near the end of the ordination Mass but spent most of that time thanking people, including his brothers and his elderly mother, who attended.

He told one story, taken from Bishop Robert Mulvee (1930–2018), who served during the 1990s and 2000s as bishop of Providence, about an encounter Mulvee had with Mother Teresa (now St. Teresa of Calcutta).

“And he said Mother Teresa — as only Mother Teresa could unabashedly do — got kind of right in his face — in a loving way, of course. And she said to him, ‘Bishop: Don’t get in God’s way,’” Ruggieri said. “I take those words to heart today.”

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and is reprinted here on CNA with permission.

The South Carolina State House passed a bill banning transgender procedures on minors on May 19, 2024. / Credit: Public Domain

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 10, 2024 / 13:45 pm (CNA).

The majority-Republican South Carolina General Assembly has passed a bill to ban sex-change surgeries and treatments on minors. 

Titled the “Help Not Harm” bill, the measure prohibits health providers from performing sex-change surgeries or hormonal treatments on minors and bans public funding of transgender procedures through Medicaid and other government health plans.

The bill also bars public school officials from withholding information from parents regarding their children’s perception of their gender. 

The measure received final approval in a 67-26 vote by the South Carolina House on Thursday. This comes after the law was passed by the Senate with additional amendments in an overwhelming 27-8 vote on May 2. 

It is set to take effect immediately upon being signed by Gov. Henry McMaster, who has previously signaled his support. 

The bill states that “a physician, mental health provider, or other health care professional shall not knowingly provide gender transition procedures to a person under 18 years of age.” 

Providers violating this law by performing sex-change surgeries on minors are considered to have inflicted “great bodily injury upon a child” and are subject to criminal prosecution and could face up to 20 years in prison. 

The bill clarifies that health providers treating “appropriate medical services to a person for precocious puberty, prostate cancer, breast cancer, endometriosis, or other procedure unrelated to gender transition, or to a person who was born with a medically verifiable disorder of sexual development” are not subject to any penalties under this law. 

Regarding public schools, the law says that no school official may knowingly withhold information related to a minor’s belief that he or she is a member of the opposite sex nor may officials knowingly “encourage or coerce a minor” to withhold such information from his or her parents. The bill also requires school officials to “immediately” notify parents in writing if their child expresses a belief that he or she is of the opposite sex.

This comes shortly after the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes South Carolina within its jurisdiction, ruled on April 29 that state Medicaid programs and government-run insurance plans must cover transgender treatments.

It is unclear how this ruling will impact the Medicaid portion of the newly passed South Carolina law. 

South Carolina joins 24 other states that have banned or restricted sex-change procedures on minors.

Credit: Shutterstock

ACI Africa, May 10, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Makurdi in Nigeria has ordered the “immediate” closure of Father Angus Frazer Memorial High School for the safety of students and staff after an attack on the institution.

In the late hours of Tuesday, May 7, gunmen allegedly gained access to the school, “shooting indiscriminately while the learners were asleep,” the director of social communications for the Makurdi Diocese, Father Moses Iorapuu, said in a Wednesday, May 8 statement.

Were it not “for the professional handling of the situation by the principal and a team of civil defense officers who repelled the attack, the situation would have been catastrophic,” Iorapuu continued, adding that “one of the heroic officers was shot and is receiving treatment.”

Iorapuu confirmed the closure and explained that the halting of all activities at the school is aimed at preventing “unimaginable disaster” as authorities investigate the attack. 

“Following the attacks on Father Angus Frazer Memorial High School by unidentified gunmen, the Diocese of Makurdi ordered the immediate suspension of activities at the school to protect the lives of students,” Iorapuu said. “The decision to suspend activities was a preemptive measure to ensure the safety of our children and avoid what could have been an unimaginable disaster.” 

In a meeting that the local ordinary of the Makurdi Diocese, Bishop Wilfred Anagbe, convened, “his consultors, the education team, and the management of the Via Christi Society unanimously agreed that the lives of the children should be considered above any other consideration in this case,” Iorapuu explained in his statement.

Iorapuu confirmed the safety of the school’s principal, Father Emmanuel Ogwuche, as well as the students, and added: “We also appreciate the professionalism of the civil defense officers who provide security at the school. These unidentified gunmen tried to raise the ante in their attacks’ strategies on the state, from villagers, farmers, worshippers to students.”

Father Angus Frazer Memorial High School is located along Welfare Quarters at Utuur Layout Phase 3 Makurdi, which is Nigeria’s Benue State capital.

“This part of the town has become notorious for killings and kidnappings by suspected herdsmen,” Iorapuu said.

The diocese has directed priests “and those in pastoral units to tighten security around their premises and appeal to relevant authorities to ensure the safety of life and property of the citizens,” the statement said.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupy an encampment on the campus of UCLA on April 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. / Credit: Eric Thayer/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 10, 2024 / 12:15 pm (CNA).

Following the passage of the Antisemitism Awareness Act by the House, critics have voiced concerns that the legislation could punish Christians for citing Scripture as well as restrict the right of students to protest Israeli military actions.

The proposed legislation would apply the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism as the standard for enforcing all federal discrimination laws related to education programs or activities, including campus protests.

That definition has drawn criticism from several Christian lawmakers since it lists among the examples of antisemitism “claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel.” Other examples of antisemitism listed, such as “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis,” also alarm free speech advocates.

Potentially implicated Bible verses 

Republican lawmakers Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, both Protestant Christians, have raised concerns about the impact of the measure on the use of biblical language.

Gaetz said on X that “the Gospel itself would meet the definition of antisemitism under the terms of this bill” and cited three Bible verses: Acts 4:10, Acts 3:14-15, and 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16. 

In another post, Gaetz emphasized: “The Bible is clear in that its words plainly, textually would violate this law. That is nuts — and in deep conflict with the First Amendment.”

In Acts 3:14-15, for example, St. Peter, speaking to “you Israelites” in Jerusalem shortly after the death and resurrection of Jesus, tells them: “You killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.”

Likewise St. Paul, in the above-cited epistle to the Thessalonians, speaks disparagingly of “the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets.”

However, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-New York, has directly pushed back against the notion that the bill implicates the use of Scripture, saying: “Those pushing that nonsense are truly idiotic and irrational.”

“The bill does not criminalize Christianity — I’m Catholic,” he said in a post on X. “It gives contemporary examples of potential antisemitism. Calling all Jews Christ killers is a form of antisemitism. Believing in the Gospel is not.”

What the Church teaches about these verses

In Article IV of “The Creed” in the Catechism of the Council of Trent, the Church rejects the notion that Jewish people are solely responsible for the Crucifixion, teaching that “our sins consigned Christ the Lord to the death of the cross.” 

“This guilt seems more enormous in us than in the Jews, since according to the testimony of the same Apostle: If they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory,” the text adds. 

The issue is also specifically addressed in the Second Vatican Council document Nostra Aetate. The council states that “what happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today.” Rather, it adds, “the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ.” 

“Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God,” the document adds.

Stephen Hildebrand, a professor of theology at Franciscan University, told CNA that the crux of the matter is that “we don’t hold a whole people responsible for the actions of some of them.”

“To attribute guilt to a whole people on the basis of the actions of a few of them is profoundly unfair and against all sense and reason and … against the teaching of the Catholic Church,” Hildebrand said. 

Additional free speech concerns

The legislation, which passed the House of Representatives 320-91, has yet to be considered by the Senate. In the House, the measure received broad bipartisan support, with only 91 members (70 Democrats and 21 Republicans) opposed.

“I’m proud to support this important legislation that will protect our brave Jewish students who are watching their campuses be taken over by unsanctioned mobs of antisemites by requiring the Department of Education to use the IHRA definition of antisemitism when enforcing antidiscrimination laws,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-New York, who is also Catholic.

Meanwhile, the civil libertarian Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression has argued that the legislation’s definition of antisemitism is “vague, overbroad, and includes criticism of Israeli government policy,” and that it would stifle speech that is protected under the First Amendment.

The American Civil Liberties Union has expressed similar concerns, saying the bill “threatens to censor political speech critical of Israel on college campuses.”

This article was updated on May 13, 2024.

St. James Cathedral in Seattle. / Credit: DarrylBrooks/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 10, 2024 / 11:30 am (CNA).

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson this week announced legal action against the Archdiocese of Seattle over what the prosecutor said was a refusal to cooperate with the state’s ongoing investigation into an alleged cover-up of clergy abuse there. 

Ferguson’s office said in a Thursday press release and at an accompanying press conference that it was “initiating legal action against the Seattle Archdiocese” over the archdiocese’s alleged refusal “to comply with Ferguson’s investigation into whether the three Washington dioceses of the Catholic Church used charitable funds to cover up allegations of child sex abuse by clergy.”

The attorney general’s office said that pursuant to that investigation it had sent subpoenas to Washington’s three Catholic bishoprics — the Seattle Archdiocese as well as the Dioceses of Spokane and Yakima — but that the Seattle Archdiocese “refused to cooperate.”

Ferguson subsequently filed a petition in King County Superior Court demanding that the attorney general’s office be allowed to “enforce its investigative subpoena” and that the court “require the archdiocese to respond in full.”

“Washingtonians deserve a public accounting of how the Catholic Church handles allegations of child sex abuse, and whether charitable dollars were used to cover it up,” Ferguson said this week.

“As a Catholic, I am disappointed the Church refuses to cooperate with our investigation. Our goal is to use every tool we have to reveal the truth and give a voice to survivors.”

In a response to the announcement, the Archdiocese of Seattle in a Thursday statement said that it disagreed with the attorney general’s characterization of the dispute.

The archdiocese “welcomes this investigation because we have a shared goal of abuse prevention, healing for victims and transparency,” the statement said.

“We have been collaborating with the attorney general’s legal team on the shared legal analysis, which is common for investigations like this,” the archdiocese said.

The attorney general’s Thursday press conference “was a surprise to us since we welcome the investigation and have been working closely with the attorney general’s team for months now.”

“The attorney general’s claim that we have not ‘shared a single document that is not public’ is not how we see it,” the archdiocese continued. 

The statement said that earlier this week the archdiocese “offered to submit a series of private deposition documents” but that Ferguson’s office was “not interested in these private documents.”

The archdiocese also disputed an allegation made at the press conference that the archdiocese is not meeting abuse victims “face-to-face.”

“[E]ach victim is offered pastoral care, which includes an invitation for a face-to-face meeting with the archbishop and victim assistance coordinator, among other options to facilitate healing,” the statement said. 

The archdiocese said it “share[s] the common goal to prevent abuse and provide a path for healing for victims and their families.”

The Seattle Archdiocese is currently led by Archbishop Paul Etienne, who has served there since 2019.

Archbishop Luc Terlinden attends a hearing session of the special commission investigating abuse in Church and other situations of power at the Flemish Parliament on Jan. 26, 2024, in Brussels. / Credit: ERIC LALMAND/Belga/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, May 10, 2024 / 10:45 am (CNA).

The archbishop of Brussels has apologized to abuse survivors and expressed deep regret over the inclusion of reportedly three perpetrators of sexual abuse on an electoral list for the council of priests. 

“This is a grave mistake on our part, and I extend my deepest apologies to the victims. I acknowledge the mistake and offer my sincerest regret,” Archbishop Luc Terlinden of Mechelen-Brussels said in a press release published May 8.

“I have initiated a thorough investigation and will take appropriate action. In the event that priests known to the archdiocese for abuse are elected to the current Flemish Brabant and Mechelen priests’ council, they will be unable to serve on the council,” Terlinden added.

The council of priests is an advisory body that provides a bishop with guidance and support on ecclesiastical matters and church governance. 

Father Rik Devillé, a vocal advocate for victims of clerical sexual abuse, called for the archbishop’s resignation, local media reported. 

“Archbishop Terlinden and Bishop Koen Vanhoutte, who oversee this archdiocese, are directly responsible for appointing priests. You don’t sign a document without knowing its contents,” Devillé said, according to VRT.

“Recently, a minister of justice resigned due to an employee’s error. If Archbishop Terlinden adheres to the same standards, he should also resign.”

The Church in Belgium is grappling with a profound fallout from public outrage over the handling of sexual abuse scandals.

According to the 2023 annual report, the number of Catholics requesting their names be removed from the baptismal register was 1.270.

Several prominent Catholics have publicly said they would “de-register” their baptisms to distance themselves from the Church — a move that is supported by the Belgian Data Protection Authority but clashes with the Catholic view of this sacrament as an indelible seal.

The question of how this can be resolved is open and the subject of a legal tug-of-war between authorities and the Church. 

Irrespective of the outcome, as Belgium’s bishops have acknowledged, the number of applications are expected to rise after a documentary series on the topic titled “Godvergeten” — “Godforsaken” — aired in September 2023.

In March, Pope Francis laicized the bishop emeritus of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, many years after the former prelate admitted to repeatedly sexually abusing his nephews.

A previous archbishop of Brussels, the late Cardinal Godfried Danneels, reportedly called on a victim of Vangheluwe’s abuse to remain silent.

The current archbishop, Terlinden, was appointed by Pope Francis just last year. His immediate predecessor was Cardinal Jozef De Kesel, who, in September 2022, made headlines by pushing for the introduction of a liturgy for blessing homosexual unions.

Pope Francis greets a young girl at a conference on Friday, May 10, 2024, on the state of birth rates in Italy and the wider West at the Auditorium della Conciliazione in Rome. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, May 10, 2024 / 10:00 am (CNA).

When Pope Francis took to the stage on Friday to speak at a conference on the state of birth rates in Italy and the wider West, he did not equivocate.

“The problem of our world is not the children that are born — it is selfishness, consumerism, and individualism, which make people full, lonely, and unhappy,” the pope said to the audience gathered in the Auditorium della Conciliazione in Rome.

This year’s edition of “Stati Generali della Natalità,” or “General State of the Birth Rate,” is based on the theme “More Young People, More Future.” It is the fourth edition of the gathering, which was launched back in 2021 as a joint project with then-Italian premier Mario Draghi and Gigi De Palo, the president of the Forum of Family Associations.

Italy, like many countries in Western Europe, has been facing an acute demographic crisis in recent years. Births in Italy dropped to a historic low in 2023. Italy’s national statistics bureau recorded 379,000 births last year, a 3.6% decline from 2022 and a 34.2% drop from 2008.

Arriving shortly after 9 a.m., Pope Francis took his seat at center stage, flanked by sitting children on both sides, and delivered a speech that, while cautionary and at times striking a dire tone, was also rooted in hope, with the Holy Father arguing that it is “important to meet and work together to promote birth rates with realism, foresight, and courage.”

“The number of births is the first indicator of a people’s hope. Without children and young people, a country loses its desire for the future,” the pope said.

“Unfortunately,” the pope continued, “if we were to rely on this data, we would be forced to say that Italy is progressively losing its hope for the future, like the rest of Europe.”

“The Old Continent is increasingly transforming into an old, tired, and resigned continent, so committed to exorcizing loneliness and anxieties that it is no longer able to enjoy, in the civilization of the gift, the true beauty of life,” Francis continued.

The Holy Father sharply rebuked population alarmism pushed by some theories such as Malthusianism, which posits that unchecked birth rates will quickly exhaust agricultural resources, leading to famine and war. The pope called those theories “long out of date.”

Striking a very different tone, he said: “Human life is not a problem, it is a gift.”

The pope did touch upon the effects of climate change, suggesting that it is not the effect of population growth but rather a consequence of prevailing economic models and consumer attitudes, or “rampant materialism,” which “attacks the existence of people and society at the root.”

“The problem is not how many there are in the world but what world we are building,” Francis added. “It is not children, but selfishness, which creates injustices and structures of sin, to the point of intertwining unhealthy interdependencies between social, economic, and political systems.” 

The pope also appealed for change on an institutional level, imploring governments to spearhead pro-family initiatives so that mothers are not in the position “to choose between work and caring for her children” and so younger couples are not faced with “the burden of job insecurity and the inability to buy a house.” 

In line with this broader reflection of the importance of the family, Pope Francis underscored the importance of valuing the elderly, calling the ostracization of the elderly “cultural suicide.”

“The future is made by the young and the old together, courage and memory, together,” the pontiff continued. 

Despite the exigent demands to reverse the negative trends, the pope ended his speech striking a more optimistic tone, encouraging young people to not “give up” and to “have faith.” 

“I know that for many of you the future may appear disturbing, and that between birth rates, wars, pandemics, and climate change it is not easy to keep hope alive. But don’t give up, have faith, because tomorrow is not something inevitable: We build it together, and in this ‘together’ first of all we find the Lord.”