By Kathleen Gilbert

SYDNEY, Australia, August 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The dwindling number of young adults willing to welcome children into the world can be traced to a “lack of confidence in the goodness of life,” said Cardinal George Pell of the Archdiocese of Sydney this weekend.

“Some young adults today are afraid of having children, uncertain of the benefits or uncertain of their capacity to cope as parents,” wrote Cardinal Pell in a column for Sunday’s edition of the Telegraph.

“Many reasons are proposed for this, but underneath lies a lack of confidence in the goodness of life, a lack of hope.”

The cardinal noted how resurgences of hope in modern times was marked by more couples welcoming new life, such as the “baby boom” that erupted out of jubilation over the end of the Second World War.

Cardinal Pell pointed to several practical factors contributing to the decline in birthrates: for example, the increased availability of education, while a “blessing,” often leads to women dividing their attention between their children and their career.

“Not much can be said to those (mercifully few) who don’t want children for purely selfish reasons, such as cost or limits to their life style; except to ask them to think again,” said Pell.

Pell encouraged young adults suffering the effects of their own parents’ divorce, who thereby doubt their own ability as parents: “In most cases, the awareness of such a possible problem is evidence that they would be able to manage, even if special help and regular prayer were needed,” he said.

The cardinal announced that St. Mary’s cathedral would celebrate a mass and blessing for expectant mothers next Sunday. Last year’s mass was a great success, he said, with scores of women seeking blessings for themselves and their unborn children.

Last November, the U.S. bishops also approved a new blessing for the child in the womb.

“Our society is changing so quickly and we are subjected to so many cranky influences, that no basic truths or values can be taken for granted,” the cardinal concluded. “We have to work to protect them.

“All Christians should follow Pope Benedict’s advice and work to ‘build a climate of joy and confidence in life, a climate in which children are seen not as a burden, but rather as a gift for all’.”

Cardinal Pell’s column

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

US Bishops Approve New Blessing for the Child in the Womb