By Fr. Shenan J. Boquet, Human Life International - ...the statement warns about a general “aging of the world’s population” that is the result of “the decrease in the birth rate and the increase in life expectancy.” As the authors of the statement note, this trend “poses challenges in all sectors of society...”... the overarching theme of the statement is that one of the groups that is most threatened by these trends is the elderly. With more and more elderly being supported by fewer and fewer working-age individuals, and with the elderly living longer than ever before, there is a risk that the prevailing paradigm will treat old age “as a negation and superfluous stage of life.”