Pope Francis has often expressed his concern over what he calls a “demographic winter”, caused by falling birth-rates in developed countries.
In the United States alone, the number of households comprising a father, a mother and children, has halved in the last 50 years.
For Pope Francis, like the rest of us, 2021 was the year everything was conditioned by the pandemic. Even so, there're three moments likely to stand the test of time
Despite the Pope's best intentions, his latest visit there irritated some, angered others, and created a flurry of critical comments that claim the refugee crisis is a purely political issue, one that's outside the Pope's specifically spiritual mandate.
For someone who says he prefers to stay at home, Pope Francis hasn’t done too badly in terms of overseas travel. Since his election in 2013, he's already visited 50 countries – including the United States, in 2015.
