As known, Europe is experiencing a serious demographic crisis. And even though it is a crucial problem afflicting the Old Continent, it fails to capture the full attention of policymakers, nor does it top the agenda of European political parties. Indeed, the media don't devote much space to this phenomenon. The demographic crisis - as reiterated by Gerard-François Dumont during the conference on "
The Rights of the Family and the Challenges of Contemporary Society", organized by the Pontifical Council for the Family from September 19-21 in Rome - is not directly linked to higher life-expectancy of European populations, but to decreasing fertility rates, begun in the 1960s of the 20th century. The "demographic winter" of Europe originates in contemporary culture that triggered the crises in marriage and the family, annihilating the will to invest in children. I think it sadly signals that in a Europe stuck in the quicksand of demographic winter, the political arena devotes too much attention to the promotion of contraception, abortion and same-sex marriage.
In this framework it's evident that the Catholic Church ascribes major importance to the Charter on the Rights of the Family, published thirty years ago. The Charter is the response of John Paul II to the request of the Bishops' Synod held in Rome in 1980. The initiative of asking an intervention by the Pope was due to organized attacks on marriage and the family launched by jurists and politicians. John Paul II reiterated that the institution of marriage and the family, yesterday like today, is fundamental for social life, and that no Country can afford to hold ambiguous positions to this regard. «The future of humanity passes by way of the family», John Paul II wrote in "Familiaris Consortio".
The primary duty of the State consists in respecting the identity of the institution of marriage and the family. A mistaken understanding of the family prevents the adoption of adequate family policies. It's hard to understand the nature of marriage and of the family by stating that procreation is only accidentally linked to it. There is a strange feeling when "learned" individuals are to told that marriage, an intimate union for life in the complementary relationship between a man and a woman, is the natural institution to which is entrusted the exclusive mission of the transmission of life.
The demographic crisis in the Old Continent - Dumont pointed out - also brings about economic pressure on old people. In some European countries the right to kill innocent people is enshrined in their legal system and the theme of the planning of the murder of innocent ones (involuntary euthanasia of handicapped children or people affected by senile dementia) is publically debated. In the public arena the idea of «lives unworthy of living» (Lebens unwertes Leben) is also shared by a social elite. Euthanasia is initially spoken of in compassionate and eventually it is inferred that such measure is a protection from the high costs linked to population ageing. It seems that nobody realizes that also in Europe old people are not the problem - in fact most of them lead efficient lives and don't need additional help - but rather the lack of children.
In this framework the participants in the conference promoted by the Pontifical Council discussed about the future of the Charter on the Rights of the Family, which after thirty years seems to have been forgotten. It was discussed whether -in the light of the new challenges and of the development of international legislation - it would be appropriate to integrate the Charter with a set of amendments, notably in the field of the rights of minors (linked to the rights of parents) and the rights of old people. It is a matter of enriching - and not of changing - contents that are extremely valid -. The risk of lessening the major contribution of truth, which the Charter provides at cultural and political level, should be prevented.
The great "dream" of John Paul II was that the Charter on the Rights of the Family may one day serve as the cornerstone of an international Charter on the Rights of the Family, a binding document for signatory countries. Possibly the day will come when the crisis of the family in the Old Continent, expressed also in the demographic crises, will be interpreted with due and dutiful attention on the part of the majority of European politicians. On that day there will be a major thrust and a decisive contribution to the development of a European Charter on the Rights of the Family. Could this "dream" of the Pope become the item of reflection as well as a life project in view of the European elections of May 2014?
