Pope will open an online meeting on ‘demographic winter’ in Italy A woman and a child are seen at the beach in Naples, Italy, in this May 4, 2020, file photo. Pope Francis is scheduled to open a May 14 meeting discussing the challenges posed by Italy’s low birth rate. (CNS photo/Ciro De Luca, Reuters) By Carol Glatz • Catholic News Service • Posted May 3, 2021 VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis is scheduled to open a meeting discussing the challenges posed by Italy’s low birthrate. “For more than a decade, Italy has become an increasingly elderly and less populated country, suffering from structural and legislative shortcomings at the fiscal, economic and social level,” which have all exacerbated a drop in births, according to a press release about the meeting.