Pope Urges Reflection on the Meaning of Life: “Instead of Children in Strollers, Doggies”
The Pope highlighted the drama of the modern world, in which fewer and fewer children are born, during an audience with the Italian Adult Catholic Scout Movement. He noted that the average age in Italy is 46 years old, and instead of children, women are seen carrying their dogs in strollers.
To address the demographic crisis on the Apennine Peninsula, the Pope mentioned a gift prepared by Italian scouts for the First Aid Center in Lampedusa: a thermal cradle for babies. This was reported by the Polish online magazine DORZECZY.
“We are living in a time of a dramatic decline in the number of newborns,” the Pope said. “Just think, the average age in Italy is 46 years old, and in Albania it is 23. There is something to ponder: the drama of the plummeting birth rates. My secretary described how, while passing through St. Peter’s Square, he saw a woman with a stroller… He came closer to look at the child, but it turned out that there was a dog in the stroller! The decline in the birth rate is a disaster,” Francis said.
“It seems that humanity has lost the sense of the value of childbirth and caring for others, and perhaps the meaning of life itself. Instead, the cradle symbolizes the joy of a child’s birth, the efforts to ensure that the child develops properly, and the expectations and hopes for who they can become in the future. The cradle speaks to us of family, a safe and welcoming nest for the youngest members, a community built on selfless love. Indirectly, the cradle also signifies care for life at every stage, especially when the passage of years or life’s difficulties make a person more vulnerable and in need,” he added.
Press service of the Secretariat of UGCC Synod of Bishops
