The Pope: “Weapons and contraceptives, man profits by destroying life”

Bergoglio to the General States of Birth: "There is no shortage of dogs and cats in homes, there is a shortage of children"

ROME – “There is a fact that a demography scholar told me: at the moment the investments that give the most income are the arms factory and anti-contraceptives: one destroys life, the other prevents life. And these are the investments that give the most income…”. Pope Francis says so in his speech to the General States of Birth.

“The problem – continues Bergoglio – of our world is not the children who are born: it is selfishness, consumerism and individualism, which make people full, lonely and unhappy. But human life is not a problem – he continues – it is a gift. And at the basis of pollution and hunger in the world there are not children being born, but the choices of those who think only of themselves, the delirium of unbridled materialism. , blind and rampant, of a consumerism that, like an evil virus, undermines the existence of people and society. The problem is not how many there are in the world, but what kind of world we are building; ‘selfishness, which creates injustices and structures of sin”.

For the pontiff “selfishness makes us deaf to the voice of God, who loves first and teaches us to love, and to the voice of our brothers who are close to us; it anesthetizes the heart, it makes us live on things, without understanding what for ; it leads to having many possessions, without knowing how to do good. And the houses are filled with objects and are emptied of children, becoming very sad places. strong>. 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”.

“At an institutional level”, to combat the birth rate, “effective policies, courageous, concrete and long-term choices are urgently needed”. The Pope says it to the States General of birth rate. “There is a need for a greater commitment on the part of all governments, so that the young generations are put in a position to be able to realize their legitimate dreams. We must “put a mother in the position of not having to choose between work and caring for her children; or free many young couples from the burden of job insecurity and the inability to buy a house”, he explains.