Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi has said Italy risks sliding into irreversible decline unless it embraces immigration as a vital part of national life.
Speaking on an appearance on the television programme Propaganda Live, the Archbishop of Bologna said the demographic trajectory of the country made the issue unavoidable, warning that economic sectors in the country’s industrial north are already struggling to function.
“If you have low birth rates and close the doors, the country just grows old,” he said, adding that businesses in Emilia-Romagna “don’t know how to manage without immigration”.
