The middle of winter. Whether it is June, November or January, two-thirds of the world's population lives in areas where the lack of births threatens the persistence of their economic, borrowing and care systems. This is what experts have called demographic winter.
Addressing the so-called demographic issue requires a vision free of reductionism that recognizes the socio-cultural, developmental and political differences of the different areas of the world and, at the same time, detects the real problems that the lack of generational replacement has, not only in the economic sphere, but above all, in the social sphere.
The demographic renaissance, urgently needed in much of our world, must be accompanied by a commitment to solidarity that supports nations that still suffer from the scourges of infant mortality, lack of access to basic goods and illiteracy.
The aging of the West is accompanied not only by the need to restructure the economic and social-health care system, but also, and above all, by an increase in situations such as loneliness, psycho-affective decompensation and the accentuation of the feeling of lack of social hope.
It is necessary, as underlined by different experts, a change of culture, a revolution of the family, which renews the social structures and replaces the individualistic and short-term thinking, typical of our times, with a situation of trust and security that promotes the end of this demographic winter.
A long-distance race that may not be as fast as we would like, but which seems urgent in order to bring about a real and sustainable future in the world. In the words of Pope Francis at the opening of the third General States of Birth: "It is necessary to prepare a fertile ground to make a new spring bloom and leave behind this demographic winter.".
Along with this reality, the Church is also living this month, pending the development of the First Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome. An assembly in which some organizational and procedural changes will be introduced that, without affecting the essence of every Synod, point to a new way of doing things within the Church that must involve all the faithful.
Even the desert or winter in which the Church may seem to be living at present needs a new flowering in which fidelity to the Holy Spirit, openness to others and the strength to respond, as coherent Christians, to the challenges that concern us are the guides of Christian life, both personal and communal.
Within the real cold panorama of these winters, however, we venture the promise of a future spring whose seeds remain the responsibility of each one of us.
