{"id":33126,"date":"2025-01-06T22:58:42","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T22:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/?p=33126"},"modified":"2025-01-06T22:58:43","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T22:58:43","slug":"russia-initiates-a-culture-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/russia-initiates-a-culture-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia Initiates a Culture of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Fr. Shenan J. Boquet, updated & published January 6, 2025, Human Life International<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill sent letters<\/a> to pregnant women to encourage them to choose life and welcome their children. The letters are part of an initiative organized<\/a> by the \u201cHello, Mom!\u201d project with similar letters planned to be distributed to moms across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amid plummeting birthrates, some of the lowest\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0in Russia since 1999, the Patriarch reminds mothers that motherhood\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0a blessing because their children\u00a0are<\/em>\u00a0blessings. While some express sadness over these gifts, pressuring women to abort their children and reject motherhood, Patriarch Kirill instead expresses great joy, wonder, and awe in their presence, affirming these God-given gifts: \u201cYou are now experiencing a special time when a great miracle of God is happening: a new person is preparing to come into the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Pro-lifers know that it is not sufficient simply to oppose abortion, but to do all that is necessary to respect the gift of life and assist moms\u2014accompanying them with friendship and encouragement, offering spiritual guidance, and providing needed resources. This understanding and personal care is expressed by Patriarch Kirill, who offers not only encouragement to the moms facing difficulties and uncertainties, saying, \u201cdo not let your hearts be troubled or afraid\u201d (Jn 14:27), but he also assures them that they are not alone on this journey. \u201cThere are people around you,\u201d he says, \u201cwho are ready to support, show care and participation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bishops are Leaders for Life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bishops play a vital role in serving as spiritual leaders, teachers, and guardians of doctrine, impacting and shaping the local faith community, helping the faithful respond to the demands of justice and compassion inherent in the Gospel message. Though there may be other mitigating reasons for the Patriarch\u2019s intervention, he shows his concern for moms in need and rejects the violence of abortion. By his actions, he proclaims that life is a supreme gift. He reaffirms \u201cthe value of human life and its inviolability, and at the same time [gives] a pressing appeal addressed to each and every person, in the name of God: respect, protect, love and serve life, every human life\u201d (Evangelium vitae<\/em><\/a>, no. 5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patriarch Kirill hopes his letters to vulnerable moms will encourage them to embrace motherhood and the gift of life. He wants them to see that God has given them an opportunity to share in His creation\u2014an eternal soul is entering the world. Through these letters and public outreach, he also desires to change a century-old anti-life mindset that has brought Russia (and several countries) to the precipice of a demographic winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia Denies a Culture of Life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Russia\u2019s population has been on the decline since the 1990s, with brief moments of recovery. Like most countries across Europe which are below replacement levels, Russia is facing a demographic crisis. And despite having a disastrously low total fertility rate (TFR) of 1.5 children per woman, abortion rates in Russia remain very high, as reported<\/a> by Reuters<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\u00a02022<\/a>\u00a0there were more than half a million abortions and 1.3 million children born in Russia. In 2024, according to a\u00a0Euro News<\/em>\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0as reported by Russia\u2019s governmental statistic agency Rosstat, there were 16,000 less Russian children born in the first half of this year than during the first half of 2023. This catastrophic population downswing has been self-inflicted, created by decades of government sponsored anti-natalist programs and policies.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Soviet Union (modern-day Russia) was the first nation in the world to legalize abortion on November 18, 1920. Since that time, it is estimated that over the last 100 years over one billion<\/em> preborn children have been murdered by abortion. Throughout the world, with innumerable pernicious consequences, the entire societal and cultural mentality toward the incomparable worth of human life has been shifted, so that the murderous act of abortion has now become a normal part of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Battle for Life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When a civilization makes war with its future by casting fertility as a \u201cdisease\u201d to be \u201ccured,\u201d there will be more far-reaching impacts to society and culture. To counter this false anthropological mindset that devalues the sacredness of marriage, conjugal love, and the immutable and intrinsic good of human life, there must be a \u201cvigorous reaffirmation of the value of human life and its inviolability.\u201d For \u201conly in this direction will [we] find justice, development, true freedom, peace and happiness\u201d (Evangelium vitae<\/em>, no. 5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patriarch Kirill\u2019s letters and the \u201cHello, Mom!\u201d project are part of a\u00a0larger program<\/a>\u00a0that aims at strengthening the sacred institutions of marriage and the family in Russia. Because women are vulnerable to abortion, the primary goal of the program and letters are to convince moms at the early stages of their pregnancy not to have an abortion but to welcome life. By promoting traditional family values, incentivizing couples to welcome more children, Russian leaders (civil and ecclesial) hope to alter the pervading mindset of abortion and gradually increase the population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, as I have discussed in previous Spirit & Life<\/em> columns, there are many reasons to believe that, barring a radical conversion of the heart, or some unforeseen event, the human race will continue to choose the path towards ever greater infertility. After all, for decades now, governments like Russia have poured billions of dollars into promoting abortion, contraception, and sterilization, creating an anti-natalist worldview. And even in the face of potentially catastrophic birth declines, this \u201cnew\u201d cultural and societal mindset that no longer views marriage, family, and children as normative and beautiful, will be nearly impossible to shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fundamentally, the problem is spiritual<\/em>. As I have often observed, the entire spirit of death (i.e., culture of death) rests on the rotten foundation of the denial of the intrinsic, God-given worth of every person\u2014beings made in the image and likeness of God<\/em> (Gen 1:27).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demographic Winter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The term \u201cdemographic winter\u201d refers to a situation\u00a0where birth rates fall significantly below the replacement level, which is 2.1 children per woman. As the number of children dwindles, this leads to an aging population and a shrinking workforce, creating a myriad of social and economic challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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