Pope: World’s ills rooted in greed, not too many babies

[Michie]

Pope Francis greets a child during a meeting on Italy's declining birthrate at an auditorium in Rome May 10, 2024. To the pope's left is Gianluigi De Palo, president of the Foundation for Natality, which organizes the annual meeting. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

ROME (CNS) — Blind, unbridled consumerism and selfishness — not the number of people on the planet and having children — are the root causes of the world’s problems, Pope Francis said.

The reasons for pollution and world hunger, for example, are not based on the number of children being born, but on “the choices of those who think only of themselves, the delusion of unbridled, blind and rampant materialism, of a consumerism that, like an evil virus, erodes at the root the existence of people and society,” he said.

“Human life is not a problem, it is a gift,” he said. “The problem is not how many of us there are in the world, but what kind of world we are building.”

Pope Francis made his remarks at a meeting in Rome May 10 on Italy’s longtime decline in births and population growth.

Italy’s declining birthrate and demographics​

Continued below.

Pope: World's ills rooted in greed, not too many babies

Blind, unbridled consumerism and selfishness -- not the number of people on the planet and having children -- are the root causes of the world's problems, Pope Francis said.

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