Pope Leo brought up five concerns, the baby bust was the central one

Published October 15, 2025 12:04pm ET



A few years ago, I walked into the Church of Santa Maria del Carmelo in Traspontina, between the Tiber River and the Vatican, and witnessed something pretty rare: a baptism.

Rome has a below-average birth rate for Italy, which has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe, itself in the midst of a baby bust.

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