It is ironic that a Jewish religious leader understands Europe’s disaster more clearly than the Pope. It also
seems that Lord Sacks cares more about Europe’s roots than the head of Catholicism.
Pope John Paul II helped to topple Communism. Benedict XVI took on the “dictatorship of relativism” and
tried to re-evangelize Europe by traveling through it and preaching at highly symbolic places such as the
German Parliament.
Pope Francis ignores Europe and now even says that “its identity as always been multicultural,” no less.
In his May 6th speech for the Charlemagne Prize, the Pope asked Europe to be more generous with the
migrants, without never raising the question of integrating them.
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks is cleverer and more honest in his assessment of Europe’s terminal condition.
The former chief rabbi of the Commonwealth for twenty years, Sacks has just warned that “Western
civilisation is on the brink of collapse because of falling birth rates,” In an interview with the Telegraph
and in a speech for the Templeton Prize, Rabbi Sacks compared modern-day Western civilization with
that of ancient Rome, and warned that Europe faces a similar collapse because of a societal attitude that
does not want the responsibility of bringing up children.
European society as we know it “will die,” he said. Sacks also warned that immigration is not a solution
because of a “systemic failure” to integrate new arrivals into society. “Now those could be integrated into
Europe but they won’t be integrated into Europe because when a culture loses its memory it loses its
identity and when a culture loses its identity there’s nothing left for people to integrate into.”
It is ironic that a Jewish religious leader understands Europe’s disaster more clearly than the Pope. It also
seems that Lord Sacks cares more about Europe’s roots than the head of Catholicism. Pope Francis, in
fact, just said that those who refer to Europe’s roots as Christian often veer into “colonialism”.
The rabbi warns that Western civilization is on the brink of being destroyed due to mass migration and
low birthrates, following the pattern of the collapse of Rome and Greece, while the Pope ignores the
dangers of migration and falling demography.
Sacks is right. People in Europe are now experiencing the attack on two fronts: they live longer and have
fewer children. The dynamics of the future European population will be characterized by death, not birth.
Society and culture will be shaken in a silent war.
Germany is at the forefront. The total fertility rate is about 1.4 children per woman: since 1972, Germany
has not seen a year in which the number of newborns exceeded the number of deaths. The population of
Germany, which currently has 82 million inhabitants, will decrease to 60 million in 2050.
The decline of Italy and Spain will also be dramatic. Spain will drop to 28 million in 2050. From 60
million, Italy will go down to 40 million. No one knows the effects of this collapse on society. France and
UK keep their numbers steady only because of the Muslim fertility.
All these predictions do not take into account mass immigration in the decades to come or a possible
fertility rate going back to at least to 2.2 children per woman.
But that has never happened before.
Rabbi Sacks is right: “Contemporary historians … right now, have failed to find a single historical
example of a society that became secularised and maintained its birth rate over subsequent centuries.”
Europe will be caught in the grips of de-Christianization and demographic suicide.
Giulio MeottiThe writer, an Italian journalist with Il Foglio, writes a twice-weekly column for Arutz Sheva. He is the author of the book “A New Shoah”, that researched the personal stories of Israel’s terror victims, published by Encounter and of “J’Accuse: the Vatican Against Israel” published by Mantua Books.. His writing has appeared in publications, such as the Wall Street Journal, Frontpage and Commentary.