"Promoting the respect of human life at all its stages and finding right and fair solutions, not purely pragmatic ones", in particular "solidarity between the generations". This is the invitation made by mgr. Celestino Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See to the UN, as he spoke in New York yesterday at the 40th session of the Commission for population and development of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. In a scenario that expects the world population to be stable at about 9 billion by 2050, the delegate of the Holy See stated that it is still "useful to monitor demographics" by means of "policies" and "tools" focussed on the "respect of the human being". As he lingered on the relevance of the "Populorum Progressio" 40 years after its publication, Migliore commented that "the emphasis" placed by Paul VI "on the individual and on society as the main objective of the development policies as well as the protagonists of their own development still offers firm guidance for demographic policies", so that the latter may promote "a culture that respects the rights of the underprivileged members of our human family, especially before birth and in the old age".
