Not so much contraception, but rather economics is a key consideration why so many young people are postponing things such marriage, children, and home ownership. It helps to have a decent paying job and not being weighed down with excessive debt.
The Pope wonders why so many people these days opt for having a cat or a dog over having a baby. He should look no further than his own backyard in Europe, where economic growth has been negligible, unemployment very high, young adults living at home with there parents well until their thirties and forties. Few opportunities for them in a dying continent where in most families grandparents now outnumber their grandchildren in most cases.
But these conditions have been that bad, and worse, at many other points in U.S. and European history. People were far poorer, materially, at many points in our history: most of us need only look back to our parents and grandparents' say.
Speaking for my own family tree: My mother came from a cohort of 5 siblings, my father 4 siblings.
My grandparents: 5 and 4 and 4 and 5.
My great-grandparents: 9 and 2 (died young) and 4 and 7.
All of these past generations were poorer, materially, than we are.
The same could be said of many Italian generational cohorts in the past.
But now, many couples will remain childless or reproduce at below replacement, while owning more than one house, while vacationing abroad annually, while spending more on restaurant dining than my parents had for their entire income.
My parents squrreled away money to own their own home by remaining single, working and scrimping for 20 years of their adult life. They married in their mid-30's.
Is the internet full of ads for "How to save money so you can own your own home in 10 years"? Or is it full of "Two fabulous weeks in Cancun!"