Spain's leading Catholic warns of Falling European Childbirth

Cardinal Antonio Rouco, the leader of Spain's Roman Catholics, told protesters at a meeting in Madrid’s Bernabeu Stadium yesterday, that the birth rate in Europe will be plummet unless core Christian values are maintained.

"Europe will be practically without children" warned Cardinal Rouco, 73, the conservative Archbishop of Madrid. "Who denies that to defend a human being so innocent and weak, already conceived but not born, commits a grave violation of moral order?”

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the prime minister, has introduced fast-track divorce measures and homosexual marriages, while a controversial abortion law allows terminations on demand up to the 14th week of pregnancy - even without parental permission for girls of just 16 years old.

A survey on religion in Spain, published just before Christmas by the newspaper Público, showed there has been a steady decline in those who describe themselves as Catholics in Spain - down almost four per cent to 26.2 per cent - and an increase in atheism.

Pope Benedict XVI sent a message of support to the rally, saying a family was "founded on the marriage between a man and a woman ... because it is of paramount importance for the present and the future of humanity".