Pope urges Italians to have babies as a measure of hope for future

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has pressed his campaign to urge Italians to have children. He has called for long-term policies to help families and warned that the country’s demographic crisis was threatening the future. Francis’ appearance at an annual conference of pro-family groups Friday marked his latest appeal for Italy, and beyond that Europe, to invert what he has called the demographic winter facing many industrialized countries. Italy’s birthrate, already one of the lowest in the world, has been falling steadily for about 15 years and reached a record low last year with 379,000 babies born.