Berlin, Germany - Faced with an alarming decline in child bearing, the German government plans to encourage career women to have children by boosting the number of child day care places.
The plans drew immediate fire from conservative Catholics. Women were being "degraded into birthing machines", Bishop of Augsburg Walter Mixa said.
The whole idea was "blinded by ideology and hostile to children", the bishop said.
A storm of protest greeted his remarks but Mixa was unrepentant and Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne came to his support, backing the thrust, if not the tone, of his criticism.
Day care places should only be used in cases of real need. "If one turns them into a permanent facility, as an alternative to the family, then this is a bad development," Meisner said.
The furore was sparked by Christian Democrat Family Minister Ursula von der Leyen, who has announced plans to treble the number of day care places available to children under 3 to 750,000 by 2013.
The aim is to help women seeking to combine a career with having children.
Mixa's "birthing machine" remark was roundly criticised on all sides. "An unbelievable insult," said former Social Democrat family minister Renate Schmidt.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, herself a Christian Democrat, backed her family minister. "Freedom of choice requires that there in fact be a choice," Merkel said.
But there were other voices from the Christian Democrat right that queried Von der Leyen's scheme.
Where was the money to come from, was the question that immediately raised its head.
The Social Democrats - partners in Merkel's grand coalition government - have plans to hold back an increase in child benefit and to cut tax allowances to fund the day care places, according to press leaks.
Christian Democrat General Secretary Ronald Pofalla was dismissive. "We cannot allow parents who want to bring up their children at home to pay for those who decide - quite legitimately - to have both career and children," he said.
Pofalla's remarks reflect a Europe-wide dilemma. Economic neo-liberals seeking higher growth have joined forces with social progressives favouring greater emancipation of women through work.
But family-oriented conservatives are resisting the trend.
Mixa cites recent evidence from psychological studies that small children need one-on-one attention if they are to develop emotionally.
"Some 86 percent of German mothers bring up their own children in the first three years, and do it happily," the bishop said.
He called for their contribution to be highly valued and supported by the state through higher child allowances. The time spent rearing children at home should count towards a pension in later life, he added.
"We need family-oriented policies and not work-oriented family policies," he said.