Readers' Blog: Pope must recognise our changed society
While issuing a warm welcome to Pope Francis on his visit to Ireland, I hope he will be aware of changes in Irish attitudes.
In July 2012, the London Family Planning summit was held.
This was a major, international conference co-hosted by the UK Government’s Department for international Development (DFID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and other partners.
The summit was attended by 30 developing countries, 40 donor countries, international agencies such as the World Bank, WHO, and Unicef, and civil society organisations amounting to 250 delegates.
The London summit was an outstanding success.
A press release issued after the summit stated: “It is estimated that by 2020, the collective efforts announced at the summit will result in 200,000 fewer women dying in pregnancy and childbirth, more than 110m fewer unintended pregnancies, over 50m fewer abortions, and nearly three million fewer babies dying in their first year of life”.
There was not a single representative from the Irish Government, or from any Irish Aid state agencies, in attendance. At the same time, Irish Aid contributed less than 1% of its annual budget to UNFPA’s (United Nations Population Fund) reproductive, maternal, and family planning programmes in Mozambique, Tanzania, DRC, Zimbabwe, and Somalia.
I have done projects in six states in South Africa and have always been appalled by Irish Aid’s attitude towards population planning.
Pope Francis must be aware that Irish society has changed in so far as abortion is now legal (when the act is passed) and population planning is considered essential, particularly in the African countries must also change.
His public recognition of this would make his visit very successful and he is truly welcomed.
