011074 cn Population Year

"The United Nations has designated 1974 as UN Population Year, and has invited member nations to initiate programs of population education and to work towards the development of population policies throughout the year and beyond. At this point we take a positive attitude toward the UN Population Year. We hope that those conducting and participating in the public discussion will do so with objectivity, humility and honesty.

' "Population questions must be considered within the larger context of man's total relationship to the entire human family, that is, in terms of his relationship to the human and social environment of our world. The population discussion must include a recognition of moral and ethical principles, convictions about human rights and the good of society and a determination to preserve the true values of marriage and family life. The population discussion cannot be reduced to a simple discussion of demographic facts, economics or patterns of social organization. We must remember that our ability to make accurate predictions about the distant future is limited, and the picture can be seriously distorted unless equal attention is given to man's ability to solve social problems, to discover or invent new resources, and to change patterns of consumption.

"We believe that the Church can make a valuable contribution to the discussion of population by calling attention to the Gospel message and to her social teaching which applies the Gospel to the changing situations of man's life on earth.

(We) wish to make some basic observations and to restate some principles that contribute to understanding the population issue and the formulation of
population policies.
1 The population challenge does not affect all nations in the same way. Some nations have a high and uneven rate of growth that complicates or inhibits the development process. Other nations need an increase of population to enhance development. In some nations, the relocation ' of population resulting from urbanization creates a special problem. Most of the developed nations, and particularly the United States, do not have the problem of rapid population growth. In fact, the United States birth rate has continually declined over the past 10 to 15 years, resulting in a low rate of population growth.

"2. Population growth must be analyzed in the larger context of concern for the development of peoples. It must take into account the care and improvement of the human and physical environment.

"3. Population projects must be based on an accurate presentation of demographic factors. They must include sound projections of resource development and of the discovery of new natural resources or synthetic materials.

"4. Migration policies can help solve some of the problems resulting from a maldistribution of population. Thus, international and national migration policies should be examined and perhaps changed in light of population concerns.

''5. In many nations, shortages of food, housing, schools and jobs generate extraordinary pressure on government trying to develop dignified and equitable living standards for their people. Rapid ,,population growth may gravely aggravate these pressures. However, population control alone is not the proper solution.

Each situation must be met with specific policies and programs which favor human and social development.

"6. Developing nations will hardly be able to reach their potential without the aid and cooperation of the already developed nations. This is not simply a matter of sending food, medicine, clothing and financial assistance, but also of granting access to world markets, enabling these nations to draw credit in the financial centers of

the world, assisting them in the education and training of their people, entering into partnership in helping them tap their own resources and encouraging imports of necessary but absent raw materials.

-7. Natural resources,especially the precious resources of air and water, and the delicate biosphere of life on earth are not infinite. They must be preserved,
protected and used as a unique patrimony belonging to all mankind.

"In order to provide a moral perspective we affirm the following principles derived from the social teaching of the Church.

"1 Within the limits of their competence, government officials have rights and duties
with regard to the population problems of their own nations-for instance, in the
matter of social legislation as it affects families, of migration to cities, of information relative to the conditions and needs of the nation. Government's positive role is to help bring about those c6nditions in which married couples, without undue material, physical or psychological pressure, may exercise responsible freedom in determining family
size.

"2. Decisions about family size and the frequency of births belong to the parents and cannot be left to public authorities. Such decisions depend on a rightly formed conscience which respects the divine law and takes into consideration the circumstances of the place and the time. In forming their consciences, parents should take into account their responsibilities towards God, themselves, the children they have already brought into the world and the community to which they belong, 'following the dictates of their conscience instructed about the divine law authentically interpreted and strengthened by confidence in God.'

"3. Abortion, directly willed and procured, even if therapeutic reasons, is to absolutely excluded as a  means of regulating births.


Excerpted from the Statement on Population issued by National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Nov. 13, 1973.