Socially as well as economically, “starting a family has turned into a titanic effort, instead of being a shared value that everyone recognizes and supports,” Pope Francis told a conference in Rome.
ROME (CNS) — Starting a family and having children has become a kind of herculean task when instead it should be valued and supported by everyone, Pope Francis said at a meeting in Rome on Italy’s severe decline in population growth.
Today’s culture “is unfriendly, if not hostile, to the family, centered as it is on the needs of the individual, where individual rights are continually claimed and the rights of the family are not discussed,” the pope said at the meeting May 12.
Women face “almost insurmountable constraints,” he said, especially as they are often forced to choose between having a career and being a mother or caring for family members who are frail or need special care.
