Cardinal George Pell’s claim that “no Western country is producing enough babies to keep the population stable” is a pure flight of fancy. The United States and New Zealand both have fertility rates of about 2.1, which is the long-term replacement level.
True, fertility rates are below the replacement level of 2.1 in many Western countries. Interestingly, the traditionally Catholic countries of southern Europe, including Italy and Spain, have among the lowest rates in the world. But this does not mean populations are declining or will decline any time soon.
For Australia, with a fertility rate of 1.85, the most recent ABS projections suggest our population will grow to between 25 million and 33 million by 2050. It may well continue to grow beyond that. Nor is this due solely to migration: Australia’s “natural increase” — the excess of births over deaths — was around 130,000 last year and will continue to be positive for at least another few decades as individuals born in previous periods of high fertility move through their reproductive years.
One has to wonder also about Cardinal Pell’s preoccupation with fertility in Western countries, when the global population is projected to peak at a minimum of 9 billion by 2050. Surely he’s not suggesting the Joneses have to keep up with the Lius and the Hassans in some sort of global population contest?
The growing material expectations of a growing global population are adding immensely to the great stress that unsustainable lifestyles in industrialised countries have placed on our natural environment.
There are many challenging goals Australia should be aiming for in the next 50 years, but having more babies is not one of them. If Cardinal Pell is in favour of growing populations, he should be prepared to explain how that preference can be squared with the imperative to rapidly reduce our greenhouse pollution levels and to adjust to a world in which water, oil and other key resources are nowhere near as plentiful as they have been in the past.
The higher up the evangelical ladder the leaders of the Catholic church get; the more they would (in private) agree it’s a rotten, foetid and putrid religion. Can’t anyone see these same men after dinner, relaxed and smoking the best Havana Havana cigars and drinking the finest Cognac in the world. Cognac de Charente, Grande champagne (folle blanche) 1933, whilst female servants (nuns) silently wait on their masters. I’m not talking about the George Pells of this word. He is strictly small time, I’m talking the men of the Papal court. Having reached this lofty point; why should they let a few ethics get in the way. Certainly it’s an evil religion, but ah how the goodies roll in. Why shouldn’t they preach unmitigated clap trap? The oafs are so stupid they keep buying it.
“Father Paul, who is the little boy in the choir I saw you talking to this morning? He was unusually—-“
“Fair my lord Cardinal?”
“Just so. I would like to hear him sing in private.”
“I’ve already told him to await your pleasure.”
“Excellent, excellent, pass the decanter will you?”
the weirdest bit about Pell’s comments is they are made by an old geezer who has supposedly married God* and committed himself to celibacy (and by extention, never having kids). Whether Pell has or hasn’t lived according to his vows we will probably never know (I don’t want to!) but we know the irreparable damage that such vows have had on poor little boys from normal families (as distinct from Holy Families). The idea that Pell and his cronies some how have the inside running on what’s best for marraige and the institution of the family is ludicrous!
**or is is only women called Sister Damien who marry Jesus? Do priests marry the Holy Ghost?
More souls,more votes-more votes, more power-more power, more money-too easy eh?
Robert
Cardinal Pell should stick to worrying about b*ggery. As long as the Catholic Church thinks it is being out bred in the fertility stakes by other religions it will never agree to contraception. As long as the women of the world are prepared to sit passively while men dictate their lives-why can’t they strike back. Men would-As long as ignorance, apathy and despair are the dominant factors in life. So will the women be docile and pliant. Men would never allow priests to interfere in their lives if they were the ones who had babies. It seems the time will never come when women cease loving the chains that bind them. Make no mistake, it is the women who are allowing population explosion. Even if it means sacrificing their own lives they should do it. And people are saying that fa*ting cows that are producing the most greenhouse gas. I’m sooo sorry, but it’s the women of this world who are the greatest polluters of all.
Clearly, Pell has raised a serious issue. If Western countries don’t produce enough people, we won’t have enough white candidates to guarantee a white pope. And where would the Catholic church be then? It might have to select a pope who was Asian, or God forbid, African. Outrageous!