Italy’s shrinking and aging population is the result of years of economic downturns, and the Vatican is launching a first-ever virtual conference that will attempt to address and help solve the issue that has only grown worse with the pandemic.

The country’s tourism, fashion, automotive and restaurant industries have been hobbled, and now more than 1 million families are living in poverty in Italy.

Pope Francis is scheduled to open the May 14 online meeting by discussing the challenges posed by Italy’s low birthrate.

“For more than a decade, Italy has become an increasingly elderly and less populated country, suffering from structural and legislative shortcomings at the fiscal, economic and social level,” which have all exacerbated the drop in births, according to a press release regarding the unprecedented initiative.

The meeting will “launch an appeal for co-responsibility in restarting the country beginning with new births” as well as studying the challenge of a “demographic winter” and look for a new way to talk about the issue of birthrates.

Gianluigi De Palo, president of the Forum of Family Associations, who helped organize the online meeting, last month said that Italy’s low birthrate is not just a “cold statistical fact” but represents a real national tragedy that is already crippling the nation’s social security system, welfare assistance, universal health care and the future of younger generations, The Boston Pilot reports.

Visit the Vatican’s YouTube page on May 14 to watch the meeting and Pope’s opening address.

 

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