Italy: The Bishops Warn That the Country Is Heading towards “Demographical Suicide”

According to the President of the Italian Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Italy is heading towards “demographical suicide”, with the present decrease in the birthrate.  According to the prelate, the cause of this situation is not only the economic crisis, but also a “cultural and moral distress.”  “An increase in consumption and a decrease of births cannot contribute to a reestablishment of the economy,” he stated in Il Messaggero on October 6, 2011.  Cardinal Bagnasco pointed out that the fall in the birth rate cannot be balanced by the arrival of immigrant children.

Thus did the Italian Cardinal express himself in his presentation of a report done by the Bishops' Conference on the demographical changes in Italy.  According to the recent numbers from the National Office of Statistics, Istat, the number of children per woman was 1.41 in 2009.  That year, Italians gave birth to some 471,500 children, while women of other nationalities gave birth, on Italian soil, to 97,300 children. (source: apic – DICI#243, October 28, 2011)