IN HISTORIC VISIT POPE WARNS ITALIAN PARLIAMENT TO PROMOTE CULTURE OF LIFE

ROME, November 14, 2002 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In the first visit of a Pope to the Italian Parliament in over 120 years, Pope John Paul II called on Italian parliamentarians to encourage openness to life among Italians.  The Pope called the “crisis of the birthrate, the demographic decline and the ageing of the population” a “grave threat that bears upon the future of this Country.”  In some of the strongest language he has used on the topic the Pope warned:  “Raw statistical evidence obliges us to take account of the human, social and economic problems which this crisis will inevitably impose on Italy in the decades to come. Above all, it encourages – indeed, I would dare to say, forces – citizens to make a broad and responsible commitment to favour a clear-cut reversal of this tendency.”  The Pope assured the politicians that the Church would contribute to this needed development with promotion of openness to life. However, he stressed, “there is also ample room for political initiatives which, by upholding recognition of the rights of the family as the natural society founded upon marriage” which “can make the task of having children and bringing them up less burdensome both socially and economically.”  See the full text of the Pope’s address:  https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2002/november/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20021114_italian-parliament_en.html   See BBC Report https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2472845.stm