Unpredictable future

“Since the adoption of the Green Paper in 2005, the so-called demographic winter has been granted increasing attention on the part of the Parliament, the European Commission, the press and the public opinion”. “But it’s still not enough. They have come to realize that the social, economic, cultural and religious development of our populations is at risk”. This is why, claims cardinal Ennio Antonelli, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, the European Union should adopt “the appropriate tools to implement a truly effective family policy”. Cardinal Antonelli delivered his speech a few days ago in Brussels during a meeting promoted by the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) – www.fafce.org on “The Family and the Future of Europe” .High numbers of senior citizens. In the EU “two thirds of the families have no children; the average fertility rate for women is 1.56”, which is below the threshold of generational interchange (2.1 per woman), His Eminence remarked. 85 million old people over 65 “outnumber adolescents and children under 14, who amount to 78.5 million”. It is expected that by 2050 the over-65 population “will be 135 million, accounting for a third of the overall population, while adolescents and children under 15 will be only one octave of the whole (60 million)”. “Lower productivity will be accompanied by a surge in public spending for pensions, health and assistance. We’re doomed to witness the collapse of the welfare state”, warned Cardinal Antonelli. “Immigration won’t mend the situation”, he added. “The solution ought to be found elsewhere”.The measures that need to be undertaken. In his latest encyclical Benedict XVI exhorts to reject the “anti-birth mentality” upheld as if “it were the sign of cultural progress” and recognize that “the promotion of life is the core of authentic development”, His Eminence points out. Indeed, “it is necessary to revaluate maternity and paternity from a cultural perspective”. Each year, states the prelate, “figures relating to death by abortion amount to a fifth of the born babies”. This must be “countered by granting the mother the support and the help she needs”. However, “the attempts to legalize the right to abortion must be strongly opposed, since it would cease appearing as a tolerated form of evil”. “It is necessary to reaffirm the right to conscientious objection on the part of medical and pharmaceutical staff”. “Many women are forced to choose between their profession and maternity”, while “flexible working hours, e-working, adequately remunerated maternity leaves, parental leaves, child-care facilities and family network incentives ought to be promoted”. Finally, there is an urgent need for “policies granting economic support to families with children”. In addition to tax-breaks, it is necessary “to establish a fair balance between taxation and family expenses (considering deductions, detractions, family Income Tax ratio; property tax assessed not only on the basis of dimension)”. An irreplaceable educational mission. “Parents’ unity and stability is the greatest gift that could be bestowed unto the children”. But in Europe, His Eminence said, “while the marriage trend is marked by constant decrease, divorces are soaring. In fact, there have been as many as 10.3 million divorces over the past ten years that involved over 17 million children”. 85% of children of divorced couples are in their mother’s custody “and while a few years after their parents’ divorce most of them reach a balance”, “25% have psychological, school and social problems, amounting to more than twofold those of the children of married couples”. Society “needs the family. But also the family needs society, and it expects to be put in the position of undertaking its irreplaceable educational mission. It is necessary to ensure children’s rights to live with both parents and have a mother and a father in adoption plans. It is equally important to discourage divorce and promote the stability of conjugal union; as well as protecting the natural identity of family as compared to other forms of coexistence, conversely to the EP initiative of encouraging Member States to grant equal legal status to de facto unions”. Cardinal Antonelli values “the diffusion of a culture of family rights and duties; acknowledging the parents’ rights to raise their children according to their own religious and ethical beliefs; enabling them to freely choose between state – and private schools; protecting the family unity of migrants whilst promoting their social and cultural integration in the full respect of the true values of their tradition”.