Fourth Bioethics Conference of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

Declining Birth Rates at the Centre of Theological, Scientific and Social Dialogue

The issue of declining birth rates, one of the most significant demographic and social challenges of our time, will be at the centre of the Fourth Bioethics Conference of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which will take place at the “Theomitor” Centre for Social and Cultural Ministry of the Holy Metropolis of Rethymno and Avlopotamos, from 2 to 4 October 2006, under the presidency of His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia, Chairman of the Synodal Committee on Bioethics of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

The Conference aspires to provide a forum for substantive theological, scientific and social dialogue concerning an issue that has multiple dimensions and long-term negative consequences for Greek society. The steady decline in births, the ageing of the population, the increasing age at which people are starting families, the social and economic conditions that influence the decision to have children, as well as the possibilities offered today by medical science, create a complex picture that cannot be approached from a single perspective.

During the proceedings of the Conference, distinguished Hierarchs, professors, physicians and specialist scholars will examine the phenomenon of declining birth rates from different yet complementary perspectives. The Fourth Bioethics Conference of the Ecumenical Patriarchate seeks to go beyond simply documenting the demographic problem and to contribute to a broader consideration of its causes, its consequences, ways of addressing it, as well as the possibilities for pastoral intervention by the Church. The aim is to bring scientific knowledge into dialogue with bioethical and theological thought, while also formulating questions and proposals that directly concern the future of our society.

The detailed programme of the Conference follows in Greek: