Pope Leo XIV on Monday urged European leaders to confront the continent’s demographic crisis with renewed support for families.

Addressing a select group of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) gathered at the Vatican, the Holy Father described declining birth rates and an ageing population as “an urgent challenge” affecting millions.

He said that the loss of Christian inspiration has contributed to a “time of drastic sterility” where some were “deprived of the right to be born,” and younger generations have not received “the material and cultural foundations needed to face the future”.

The Pope criticised contradictory approaches that claim to support families and at the same time “promote discrimination against motherhood, uphold abortion as a right, and undermine the very foundation of the desire to start a family.”

Recalling the teaching of Saint John Paul II, Pope Leo XIV described the family as “the first and irreplaceable school of social life,” founded upon marriage between a man and a woman.

The Pope highlighted cooperation between the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) and the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) as examples of fruitful collaboration aimed at promoting human dignity and the common good.