In a recent public audience Pope Benedict XVI prayed for societies experiencing declining birth rate evident both in Italy with a current fertility rate of 1.4 and Australia with a current fertility rate of 1.75 which are all below the replacement rates saying: “They are lacking in energy and hope. The gift of children is a particular blessing from God, a source of joy and a support, especially in old age. Children are also a blessing for society, giving it a special freshness and future.”
Bishop Fisher agrees with the Pope and says: “These entrepreneurs have been very successful in getting us to adopt a consumer mentality towards the body, sexuality and children. They brag that birth rates have plummeted and that many people now have sex not just without children but without love or commitment, merely for ‘fun, lust, curiosity or excitement’, as Dr Djerassi says.”
The bishop stated: “The contraceptive manufacturers have taught people not to love their bodies, life and children but rather to fear their fertility, to withhold it even from their spouses, to cauterise it temporarily or permanently. In the process they have made our civilisation sterile. But it should not be presumed that this will last indefinitely.”
He went further saying: “Many people today are questioning the supposed liberation of loveless sex and commitment-free relationships. The trivialisation of the human body, sexuality and love has hurt a lot of people and they are now looking for more.”
Bishop Fisher concluded by saying: “One of the most significant legacies of Pope John Paul II will be a new generation whose interest in ‘the theology of the body’ means they will be willing to question a lot of this. Freedom from nature, from reason, from God’s law, is being exposed as no freedom at all. Though the contraceptive and embryo manufacturers still have an enormous commercial interest in keeping us hooked on ‘the pill’, many people are having second thoughts.”