Pope Francis, dismayed by Italy’s falling birth rate, is urging couples across the country to have more children as an expression of hope for the future.

“The birth of children, in fact, is the main indicator for measuring the hope of a people,” Pope Francis said during a recent conference, according to the National Catholic Register. “If few are born, it means there is little hope. And this not only has repercussions from an economic and social point of view, but also undermines confidence in the future.”

The conference, put on by the Foundation for Natality and the Italian Forum of Family Associations, focused on the declining birthrate in Italy. The two-day General State of the Birth Rate convention took place last week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) said in a statement summarizing the event.

After the USCCB recapped the message from the event, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone weighed in on the topic.

“Each of our mothers are each a sign of hope,” Cordileone said in a tweet that was accompanied by a link to the Catholic News Agency’s coverage of the event.

Only 393,000 births were recorded in Italy last year. That represents an all-time low. Italy's fertility rate – 1.24 live births per woman – is also among the lowest in Europe. While the birth rate has been falling, the mortality rate has gone up, the Italian National Institute of Statistics reported, according to the USCCB.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni joined Pope Francis at the conference on the second day to discuss the topic. Meloni, who has voiced concern over the matter, called on Italians to give motherhood and fatherhood more respect and consideration. People need to realize that being a parent “isn't uncool, but is a socially recognized value,” she said.

Several studies have been conducted to try to determine the reasons behind Italy's declining birth rate. The financial cost of raising a child and the increased burden that comes with caring for elderly parents were two of the more common explanations. Meloni, as part of a plan discussed last year, wants to do what she can to boost the country's birth rate to 500,000 per year within a decade, Yahoo News said in a report.