The Pope's message on the unborn

The Pope once again spoke about the lack of religion in his native Europe. He lamented the plight of the unborn.

The Pope is naturally looking at this from a religious and moral perspective. He deserves a lot of credit for speaking bluntly about a tough subject.

However, abortion and secularism are more than a religious problem. It is society's problem, too.

Babies and marriage matter a lot. Abortion, a decline in marriage, and too much family planning, are turning much of the industrialized world into the shrinking West.

Today's newspapers confirm the problem we face.

In Italy, the birth rate is down to 1.2 children per couple. It takes 2.1 per woman to keep your population! At this rate, there won't be any Italians in a couple of generations. Who will live in Italy? It won't be what we now think of as Italians!

As a practical matter, how are we going to pay for all of these entitlements that we have promised our aging populations? What young men will fight to defend Europes's way of life? Do Europeans think that the US will protect them in the next 50 years?

Birthrates and secularism are connected. The formula is this: secularism equals no babies which equals aging populations.

As Mark Steyn wrote:

"To those of us watching Europe from afar, it seems amazing that no Continental politician is willing to get to grips with the real crisis facing Europe in the 21st century: the lack of Europeans. Demography is not necessarily destiny. Today's high Muslim birth rates will fall, and probably fall dramatically, as the Roman Catholic birth rates in Italy, Ireland and Quebec have. But demographics is a game of last man standing. It's no consolation that Muslim birth rates will be as bad as yours in 2050 if yours are off the cliff right now. The last people around in any numbers will determine the kind of society we live in." (http://www.suntimes.com/output/steyn/cst-edt-steyn25.html)

Who will be the last man standing? It matters a lot! The last man standing is usually the one who celebrates victory.

Truman and Eisenhower, rather than Hitler, were the last men standing in 1945. Reagan and Bush, rather than Gorbachev and his Kremlin pals, were the ones standing after the Cold War.

It matters a lot who the last man standing is. He will set the table for the future.