The Register portal reports on a study suggesting that the advent of smartphones is partially responsible for the steep decline in fertility in the U.S. since 2007, linking increased screen time to reduced in-person relationships, easier access to pornography, and information about contraception and abortion. While the study offers a plausible mechanism for the demographic collapse, it ultimately fails to address the root cause: the systematic destruction of the Catholic understanding of marriage, family, and human sexuality by the conciliar sect and its modernist “clergy,” who have abandoned the faithful to the ravages of secularism and technological idolatry.
The Study’s Findings: A Superficial Diagnosis of a Spiritual Malady
The study in question, released by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), posits that the introduction of the iPhone in 2007 correlates with an accelerated decline in fertility, particularly among younger demographics. Researchers Caitlin Myers and Ezekiel Hooper theorize that smartphones have led to fewer in-person relationships, thus fewer pregnancies, by providing easier access to pornography (a substitute for authentic intimacy) and information about contraception and abortion. While these observations are empirically verifiable and align with common sense, they merely scratch the surface of a far deeper spiritual and moral catastrophe. The study, like most secular analyses, treats symptoms while ignoring the disease: the pervasive apostasy that has infected not only secular society but, more tragically, the very structures that should be the bulwark of truth.
The Linguistic Veil: “Suggestive Evidence” and the Relativization of Truth
The language employed by the researchers and commentators is telling. Phrases like “suggestive evidence,” “key mechanism,” and “no single cause” reflect a cautious, empirical approach that, while scientifically prudent, inadvertently obscures the moral certainty of the Church’s teaching. When Patrick Brown, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, states that “increasing availability of digital tech has been a prime cause for declining relationship formation,” he identifies a proximate cause but omits the ultimate one: the systematic dismantling of the Catholic understanding of marriage and family by the conciliar sect itself. The Register’s own reporting, while acknowledging the negative effects of smartphone culture, fails to explicitly condemn the modernist “clergy” who have abdicated their duty to form consciences and defend the faith against such societal poisons.
The Theological Bankruptcy of the Conciliar Sect
The true crisis is not merely technological but theological. The decline in fertility is a direct consequence of the Church’s failure to uphold the sanctity of marriage and the procreative purpose of the marital act, as defined by the Council of Trent and reaffirmed by every Pope until 1958. The conciliar sect, with its emphasis on “dialogue,” “accompaniment,” and “pastoral sensitivity,” has effectively neutered the Church’s prophetic voice, leaving the faithful adrift in a sea of moral relativism. Where are the clear, unequivocal condemnations of contraception, pornography, and the idolatry of technology? Where is the call to repentance and conversion, so prominent in the messages of Our Lady of Fatima (a false apparition, as we have established) and the warnings of St. Pius X against Modernism?
The Symptomatic Level: Smartphones as Instruments of Apostasy
Smartphones, far from being neutral tools, are instruments of a culture that has rejected God and His laws. They facilitate access to pornography, which is a grave sin against the Sixth Commandment, and promote a culture of instant gratification that is antithetical to the virtues of chastity, self-sacrifice, and perseverance necessary for fruitful marriages. The study’s findings are not surprising; they are the predictable fruit of a society that has embraced the errors condemned in the Syllabus of Errors and Lamentabili sane exitu. The conciliar sect, by its silence and complicity, has enabled this culture of death to flourish.
The Omission of Supernatural Realities
The most glaring omission in the article and the study it reports is any mention of the supernatural realities that underpin human sexuality and fertility. There is no reference to the state of grace, the necessity of prayer and the sacraments for a holy marriage, or the reality of final judgment. The Register’s reporting, while acknowledging the importance of “device-less time” and “physical presence,” fails to connect these practical advice to the deeper spiritual truths that give them meaning. As Pope Pius XI taught in Quas Primas, “His reign, namely, extends not only to Catholic nations or to those who, by receiving baptism according to law, belong to the Church, even though their erroneous opinions have led them astray or discord has separated them from love, but His reign encompasses also all non-Christians, so that most truly the entire human race is subject to the authority of Jesus Christ.” The failure to recognize Christ’s kingship over all aspects of life, including technology and human relationships, is the root cause of the fertility crisis.
The Call to Repentance and Return to Tradition
The solution to the fertility crisis is not merely technological regulation or “device-less time,” but a radical return to the unchanging truths of the Catholic faith. This requires a rejection of the conciliar sect and its modernist errors, and a re-embracing of the integral Catholic faith as taught by the Church before 1958. Parents must be formed in the true teachings of the Church, not the watered-down, naturalistic humanism of the post-conciliar era. They must be equipped to form their children in the virtues of chastity, self-sacrifice, and perseverance, and to resist the temptations of a culture that has rejected God. As St. Pius X warned in Pascendi Dominici gregis, “The office of the Church is to watch over the purity of the Faith and to guard it from errors; hence, she is bound to promote and defend the truth, and to condemn and reject errors.” The conciliar sect has failed in this duty, and the faithful must take it upon themselves to preserve and transmit the deposit of faith.
Conclusion: The Fertility Crisis as a Sign of the Times
The decline in fertility is not merely a demographic trend; it is a sign of the times, a manifestation of the profound spiritual crisis that has engulfed the world and the Church. The study’s findings, while empirically valid, are ultimately superficial, failing to address the root cause of the problem: the apostasy of the conciliar sect and the rejection of Christ’s kingship over all aspects of life. The solution lies not in technological regulation or secular social science, but in a radical return to the unchanging truths of the Catholic faith, as taught by the Church before 1958. Only then can the faithful hope to reverse the tide of demographic collapse and build a culture of life that is pleasing to God.
Source:
Smartphones and Fertility: Studies Suggest a Link — and Complex Implications (ncregister.com)
Date: 16.06.2026