Report unveiled by the European Parliament says there is one marital breakdown and one abortion in Europe every 30 seconds BRUSSELS There is one marital breakdown and one abortion in Europe almost every 30 seconds, a report that claims to chart the collapse of family life said yesterday. In a survey of life in the 27 European Union countries, the Institute for Family Policy said that pensioners now outnumbered teenagers, and more people were living alone. The report, The Evolution of the Family in Europe 2008, which was unveiled in the European Parliament in Brussels, described the European birth rate as "critical". It said that almost one million fewer babies were born in the 27 EU countries last year than in 1980. There were six million more over65s than under14s in Europe last year, against 36 million more children than pensioners in 1980.
BRUSSELS There is one marital breakdown and one abortion in Europe almost every 30 seconds, a report that claims to chart the collapse of family life said yesterday.
In a survey of life in the 27 European Union countries, the Institute for Family Policy said that pensioners now outnumbered teenagers, and more people were living alone.
The report, The Evolution of the Family in Europe 2008, which was unveiled in the European Parliament in Brussels, described the European birth rate as "critical".
It said that almost one million fewer babies were born in the 27 EU countries last year than in 1980. There were six million more over65s than under14s in Europe last year, against 36 million more children than pensioners in 1980.
Sigh... In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Catholic leader: Secularist currents in Latin America come from Spain
Catholic leader: Secularist currents in Latin America come from Spain A prominent lay Catholic in Spain who was recently named to the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Lola Velarde, said this week that Spain's President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's secularist agenda is the launching pad for efforts to promote secularism in Europe and Latin America, reports Catholic News Agency. Velarde told the Spanish weekly Alba that Spain has become "in part" a trial ground, because "if this secularist agenda can be implemented in a traditionally Catholic country, it will be much easier to `export' it to other countries like those of Latin America." Velarde, who is also president of the European Network of the Institute for Family Policy, said she wasn't inferring there was a "worldwide conspiracy" or a "worldwide secularist agenda with headquarters in Spain," but rather that there exists a "secularist, relativist, gender ideology-based current that has many protagonists and in which Spain plays a key role." She said her work as member of the Pontifical Council for the Laity would be to unveil this agenda, provide analysis and point to "solutions and avenues" to combat it, as well as "to be a voice for the laity of the Church, especially the laity that work in public life." Velarde thanked Pope Benedict XVI for naming her to the new post and said that as president of the European Network of the Institute for Family Policy, she hoped to offer solutions and analysis about the problems families face in Spain and the European Union.
A prominent lay Catholic in Spain who was recently named to the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Lola Velarde, said this week that Spain's President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's secularist agenda is the launching pad for efforts to promote secularism in Europe and Latin America, reports Catholic News Agency.
Velarde told the Spanish weekly Alba that Spain has become "in part" a trial ground, because "if this secularist agenda can be implemented in a traditionally Catholic country, it will be much easier to `export' it to other countries like those of Latin America."
Velarde, who is also president of the European Network of the Institute for Family Policy, said she wasn't inferring there was a "worldwide conspiracy" or a "worldwide secularist agenda with headquarters in Spain," but rather that there exists a "secularist, relativist, gender ideology-based current that has many protagonists and in which Spain plays a key role."
She said her work as member of the Pontifical Council for the Laity would be to unveil this agenda, provide analysis and point to "solutions and avenues" to combat it, as well as "to be a voice for the laity of the Church, especially the laity that work in public life."
Velarde thanked Pope Benedict XVI for naming her to the new post and said that as president of the European Network of the Institute for Family Policy, she hoped to offer solutions and analysis about the problems families face in Spain and the European Union.
