Pope Cites Secularism in Canada Birth Rate

[havanagilla]

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060521/ap_on_re_eu/vatican_message">news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060...an_message</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>Pope Cites Secularism in Canada Birth Rate Sat May 20, 10:28 PM ET<br> <br><br><br>VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday that low birth rates in Canada are the result of the "pervasive effects of secularism" and asked the country's bishops to counter the trend by preaching the truth of Christ. <br><br>ADVERTISEMENT<br> <br>Benedict, who has spoken out several times in favor of large families, blamed Canada's low birth rate on social ills and moral ambiguities that result from secular ideology.<br><br>"Like many countries ... Canada is today suffering from the pervasive effects of secularism," Benedict told visiting bishops from Canada. "One of the more dramatic symptoms of this mentality, clearly evident in your own region, is the plummeting birth rate."<br><br>Canada's birth rate in 2005 was 10.5 births for every 1,000 people, according to Statistics Canada.<br><br>"Canadians look to you to be men of hope, preaching and teaching with passion the splendor of the truth of Christ who dispels the darkness and illuminates the way to renew ecclesiastical and civic life," the pontiff told the bishops, speaking in English.<br><br>Separately, Benedict told the new Spanish ambassador to the Holy See that family based on marriage should not be "replaced or confused" by other institutions — an allusion to gay marriage, which is legal in Spain.<br><br>Benedict said he hoped his planned visit to Valencia, Spain, in July to attend a church gathering dedicated to families would give him "an opportunity to celebrate the beauty and fecundity of the family based on marriage, its very high calling and its essential social value."<br><br>The pope has been leading a church campaign in defense of traditional families.<br><br>He also reiterated church opposition to abortion and euthanasia.<br><br>"The church proclaims without reserve the primordial right to life, from conception to natural death, the right to birth, to create and live in a family, without it being substituted or confused by other forms or different institutions," Benedict said, speaking in Spanish.<br><br>Ambassador Francisco Vazquez Vazquez described the audience as "cordial and affectionate."<br><br>Ties between the Holy See and Spain have been strained since Spain's Socialists took office in 2004 with an agenda that has included legalizing gay marriage and making it easier for Spaniards to obtain divorce in the traditionally Roman Catholic country.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>there are alternative explanations to that... <p></p><i></i>