Pope Benedict XVI: Europeans are selfish for not producing children

[The Yankee]

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Pope blasts Europeans for not having enough children



by Sim Sim Wissgott 1 hour, 59 minutes ago

MARIAZELL, Austria (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI blasted Europeans for being selfish and not having enough children, in a sermon on Saturday at the 850-year-old pilgrimage site of Mariazell in Austria.

"Europe has become child-poor. We want everything for ourselves and place little trust in the future," the pope told a crowd of faithful from his canopied area at an open-air, afternoon mass that took place under heavy rain.

But Benedict held out hope, saying: "The earth will be deprived of a future only when the forces of the human heart and of reason illuminated by the heart are extinguished . . . Where God is, there is the future."

The pontiff had slammed abortion upon arriving in Austria Friday as the "very opposite" of human rights.

"The fundamental human right, the presupposition of every other right, is the right to life itself," he told members of the government and the diplomatic corps at the Hofburg, the seat of the Austrian presidency in Vienna.

Austrian Defence Minister Norbert Darabos said in a state televisin interview however Saturday that the Austrian government would not call for a change in the country's law which allows abortions.

Meanwhile, in evening prayers at Mariazell the traditionalist Pope defended chastity for religious orders as a way for them to become "men and women of hope."

Celibacy is not "individualism or a life of isolation" for priests, nuns and other religious orders but "unreservedly" serving God and having "deep relationships ... which they accept as a gift."

The Austrian Church has been wracked by several sex scandals involving priests and in an open letter to the pope the liberal Austrian movement Wir sind Kirche ("We are the Church") has called for the end of celibacy.

Despite the bad weather that has dogged the visit so far, thousands stood in the rain at Mariazell packed behind crowd barriers, with many wearing yellow raincoats and some waving blue scarves, the traditional colour of Jesus's mother Mary.

The pope, who had arrived in Mariazell from Vienna by car instead of by helicopter due to the weather, waved to the crowd through the windows of the Popemobile as he made his way to the centuries-old white and pink basilica in Mariazell.

People who had been sheltering under doorways rushed towards his motorcade as it passed, even as the rain increased in intensity.

Organisers said 33,040 free tickets had already been distributed for Mariazell and that the pilgrims would include 70 bishops from central and eastern European countries.

The Austrian archbishop, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, told the crowd that two pilgrims had died from health problems, and the Pope said a prayer for them.

On Friday, the pontiff said he intended his pilgrimage "to be a journey made in the company of all the pilgrims of our time."

He said Mariazell "symbolizes an openness which... transcends physical and national frontiers."

The main pilgrimage site in the Danube region, some 110 kilometres (70 miles) southwest of Vienna, the basilica was founded by Benedictine monks.

The site, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and celebrates its 850th anniversary this year, welcomes around a million pilgrims every year from Austria, neighbouring Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia as well as Poland, Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina.

The Pope arrived in Vienna Friday morning and addressed a crowd of thousands at Am Hof square before making a silent tribute to the victims of the Holocaust at a nearby monument.

The pope's visit has been greeted with some criticism in a country where the traditionally powerful Catholic Church is waning in influence.

Statistics show the Austrian Church has lost about one million followers since 1983, and only 67 percent of Austrians are still officially Catholic, compared to almost 92 percent in 1900.

On Sunday, the Pope will celebrate a morning mass at Vienna's St. Stepheon's Cathedral and visit the Cistercian monastery in Heiligenkreuz, before flying back to Rome.

Does he have a point (whatever you may think of the Catholic Church)? Is he ranting? Should the Church (as this Austrian group said in its letter) help out by letting their priests marry and have children?

 

[Godwynn]

I guess he should help support those children. It is becoming really expensive to raise a child.

 

[CCA]

This Pope should quietly remain out of the spotlight.

Seriously the only reason this guy was chosen was that he was expected to die quickly and quietly while the church figures out what to do in the intermim.

 

[Elrohir]

Does he have a point (whatever you may think of the Catholic Church)? Is he ranting? Should the Church (as this Austrian group said in its letter) help out by letting their priests marry and have children?

Well, he has a point in that it is indeed good for society generally to increase in population, and having a negative birth rate is a recipe for disaster. However, I think if you decide to marry someone because you want to increase your nations birthrate, you're probably making a mistake.

Can you imagine proposing to someone, though? "Marry me darling - help us turn around our nations 1.7 per woman of fertile age birthrate! Let's make it a 1.8 dear!"

 

[downtown]

I dont see the Pope making any babies!!!

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Yeah, it is kind of odd that the people most adamant that others have lots of children are themselves celibate.

Also, yeah, I think he was sort of seen as an interim choice.

 

[CaptainF]

I think the hidden message here is not that people aren't having babies, but that people are using too much birth control.

He is Catholic, after all...

 

[Mirc]

I don't trust a word of what this Pope says...

This Pope should quietly remain out of the spotlight.

I agree.

 

[Till]

The Catholic church could help finance more daycare facilities for children. I doubt mere appeals will do a whole lot of good.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

It is almost pretty much a moot point; the only people who take him seriously enough to listen to him already do, mostly by virtue of being Catholic.

 

[skadistic]

The Catholic church could help finance more daycare facilities for children. I doubt mere appeals will do a whole lot of good.

They don't have enough money with all the bribes and pay outs from that child molesting thing ....... and do you really want the cathoholic church involved in child care?

 

[C~G]

Selfish?

And this comes man in robes who denies and prevents people having the right to birth control in the process leaving numerous children to live in most dire possible circumstances including dying into malnutrition.

As normal that selfish bastard can go to hell.

 

[Chieftess]

Does he have a point (whatever you may think of the Catholic Church)? Is he ranting? Should the Church (as this Austrian group said in its letter) help out by letting their priests marry and have children?

Letting priests marry isn't the point, and that's a whole 'nother debate entirely. I think the point (the part about "Europeans being selfish") is that they are putting personal goals first, like work, money, leisure activities, etc., ahead of family.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

While I agree that putting one's career ahead of family is bad, I don't see having more children as the best solution.

 

[Bill3000]

Letting priests marry isn't the point, and that's a whole 'nother debate entirely. I think the point (the part about "Europeans being selfish") is that they are putting personal goals first, like work, money, leisure activities, etc., ahead of family.

No, he isn't talking about stuff like, say, a full-time working mother, or putting work ahead of children. He's talking about the fact that the birth rate of Europe is lower than replacement levels, which will inevitably decrease the population.

 

[The Yankee]

Letting priests marry isn't the point, and that's a whole 'nother debate entirely. I think the point (the part about "Europeans being selfish") is that they are putting personal goals first, like work, money, leisure activities, etc., ahead of family.

I suppose one could argue that starting a family without things in place or while you still have those urges to go out and do whatever would be just as selfish, if not more so. Thus, you get more people that have children when they're older...so they either can't have more or have their hands full with one or two children as it is.

So who wins?

 

[Laurencius]

To be clear, he only wants white European babies, probably due to his time in the Hitler Youth.


I believe some European nations already provide economic incentives for women that wish to have children.

 

[The Yankee]

Only 17 posts until someone brought up the Hitler Youth thing....

Although, such increases may be better for European states anyway as they still have to keep up those promises they provided in terms of social programs and the sort. These countries are aging rapidly and will run out of people to keep it afloat aside from their importations.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Godwin's Law, eh?

Besides which, the Catholic Church is growing most among non-whites anyways.

 

[warpus]

Kinda hypocritical for a virgin to blame the rest of us for not having enough sex, no?