Pope Francis has called couples who decide to have pets over children “selfish,” while instructing people to have more children in the face of declining populations.
Speaking to a general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday, he said, “Today … we see a form of selfishness. We see that some people do not want to have a child. Sometimes they have one, and that’s it, but they have dogs and cats that take the place of children. This may make people laugh but it is a reality.”
The Pope argued that a couple’s decision to remain childless leads to a loss of “humanity” and does not serve civilization.
“And this denial of fatherhood or motherhood diminishes us, it takes away our humanity. And in this way civilization becomes aged and without humanity, because it loses the richness of fatherhood and motherhood. And our homeland suffers, as it does not have children,” he continued.
Saint Joseph, you who loved Jesus with fatherly love, be close to the many children who have no family and who long for a daddy and mommy. Support the couples who are unable to have children, help them to discover, through this suffering, a greater plan. #GeneralAudience
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) January 5, 2022
His comments struck a sour note, with many people taking to social media to call out the childless leader of the Catholic Church.
How many children does the Pope have, again? Sounds a little hypocritical if you ask me. https://t.co/9L0ff9HcuJ
— DJ Cthulhu 🌻🐙🎧 (@RealDJCthulhu) January 5, 2022
How many babies has the Pope? https://t.co/RDKVKYWSoF
— Dr Charlotte Lydia Riley (@lottelydia) January 5, 2022
the Pope is clearly clueless about what it takes to have kids. What would he know? why should people be thrust into poverty to have children? That's what frequently happens. Consciously deciding not to have kids is noble. https://t.co/CpLYmIXxFo
— KnowYourObama (@KnowYourObama) January 5, 2022
Others shared that the Pope should not have a say or opinion in the personal choices people make for their bodies.
If I were the Pope I wouldn't tell women to do anything. Not my place 💅 https://t.co/awBjkYhLdX
— it's patchy (@PatchTheePirate) January 5, 2022
The Pope does not have the right to tell women what to do with their bodies.
If couples want to adopt pets instead of having/adopting children, they have the right to do so. https://t.co/xpYFvPHZ9Z
— Nick Gazerro: Part 2 (@nikgazcs2) January 5, 2022
The Pope and so many others have such a fetishization of the uteruses of women. Stay out of 'em. Not everyone wants kids. Society barely cares about the kids who are already born and need love, shelter, and happy homes. https://t.co/2mGInHQb4O
— Stephanie. (@qsteph) January 5, 2022
In his address, the Pope also suggested that couples who cannot biologically have children should consider adoption, and urged potential parents “not to be afraid” of having kids.
“Having a child is always a risk, but there is more risk in not having a child, in denying paternity,” he said, referencing a “demographic winter” – possibly referring to countries with declining birth rates.
Canada’s birth rate has been steadily declining since 2008 – a trend seen across much of the western world.
Read more:
The number of births in Canada has fallen to a 15-year low amid COVID-19 pandemic
Since the onset of the pandemic, that decrease has intensified: the birth rate decreased from 1.47 children per woman in 2019 to a record low of 1.40 children per woman in 2020.
Statistics Canada said 358,604 live births were reported across the country in 2020, the lowest number since 2006. The decline from 2019 — 3.6 per cent — was also the greatest year-over-year decline in 14 years.
Mary-Ann Murphy, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia who specializes in aging and demographics, told Global News last year that the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada has brought with it “the opposite of a baby boom.”
Read more:
The COVID-19 baby dilemma — Why Canadians are rethinking parenthood in 2021
She said more couples are concerned about finances, job security and keeping a roof over their heads than growing their families.
She also said that more women are spending what would be considered prime child-rearing years on advancing their jobs and livelihoods, and are not choosing to have children until their 30s.
“And when you wait that late, you’re not going to end up having very many kids,” she said.
This is not the first time Pope Francis has lectured those who choose pets over children.
According to the BBC, in 2014 he called the decision to have a pet, but not kids, “another form of cultural degradation.”
— with files from Ashleigh Stewart, Sean Boynton and David Lao
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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