Children, common hope ” “

“Children – hope for life” is the theme to which the Catholic and Evangelic Churches have chosen to dedicate Pro-Life Week in 2005, 2006 and 2007. During these three years, children will thus be the protagonists of Pro-Life Week, which will be held throughout Germany from 9 to 16 April. This year’s slogan is “A new beginning with children”. The event comprises a series of events, notably the inaugural ecumenical ceremony to be held in Kassel in the presence of Cardinal Karl Lehmann and of the Evangelic bishop and chairman of the Council of the Evangelic Church in Germany, Wolfgang Huber . So the ecumenical process finds an ideal terrain in the protection of the family and in particular of children. In the social field, too, the German Churches are pursuing their common work, as testified by a recent joint declaration on the report on poverty and wealth presented by the German government. PRO-LIFE WEEK. The programme of the week was presented by Cardinal Lehmann and Evangelic Bishop, who described its main objectives at a press conference in Berlin on 28 February. “Children are a blessing! Raising the awareness of this profound human truth is the aim of pro-like week for the next thee years”, explained Cardinal Lehmann, who expressed concern about the declining birth rate. The cardinal also drew attention to the growing economic problems that families with children have to face; “the impression is being increasingly created that children are a kind of luxury that only those who have the means to afford them can have”. Wolfgang Huber pointed out the risks of the declining population: “When children are no longer an obvious presence in an ever-greater number of sectors of life, the general meaning of children is increasingly lost. Becoming unused to the presence of children leads to demographic decline. That’s why – he added – pro-life week 2005 intends to encourage families to dare a new start with children. Signals of confidence need to be given in consideration of a widespread lack of courage. A family policy that enables the risk of the new start with children to be calculated is also needed. But it is equally important that people tell of their change of heart to encourage others. When it boils down to it, what is needed is a social climate in which the courage to have children is embraced with all the affection and solidarity that this courageous way of life deserves. It creates so much hope. If we truly want to have a future, we must find new opportunities and incentives to promote it”. SCANDAL OF CHILDREN LIVING IN POVERTY. With a joint declaration issued on 2 March, the German Catholic Church and Evangelic Church also pronounced on another burning issue of our time: poverty in Germany. The occasion was provided by the presentation of the government’s second report on poverty and wealth. The document, point out Huber and Lehmann, “illustrates once again what we have before our eyes, also through experiences of the Diakonie and Caritas: poverty in Germany has many aspects. Even in our rich country a dreadful form of poverty exists”. Particular concern was expressed in the communiqué about “those who do not sufficiently benefit from state benefits and who therefore do not even have the security of subsistence, because they are unable to exercise their rights. The biblical commandment of humanity and solidarity holds good in a particular way for them”. In this regard, Lehmann and Huber say they are “particularly worried by the numerous projects to diminish or wholly eliminate the provision of state aid that guarantees existence”. The German Churches also emphasized the precarious situation even of those who benefit from social or unemployment benefits: “this form of poverty also needs to be taken seriously, even if in the meantime we recall the situation of many millions of people in other continents who are forced to live in conditions of extreme poverty and appeal to our people to assume responsibility for their situation”. Huber and Lehmann also denounced the “risk of poverty for families, especially for larger families […] The State and society have the duty to make sure that their greatest social and affective asset and their most important prospect, i.e. children, do not lead to material poverty. The high number of children living in poverty is a scandal”.