Pope Francis is not here for pet “parents” and their “fur babies.”
The 85-year-old holy man had some choice words for the childless at the Vatican earlier this week. In remarks to a general audience, the Catholic Church head criticized couples who have chosen not to have children, choosing instead to care for their pets.
“Today, we see a form of selfishness,” the Pope told the audience. “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.”
He also encouraged couples who cannot have children to adopt a child in need of a loving family.
“How many children in the world are waiting for someone to take care of them,” he stated.
“It is a risk, yes: Having a child is always a risk, either naturally or by adoption,” the Argentina-born pope explained. “But it is riskier not to have them. It is riskier to deny fatherhood, or to deny motherhood, be it real or spiritual.”
He also inferred that there might be something wrong with people who choose not to have kids.
“A man or woman who do not develop the sense of fatherhood or motherhood, they are lacking something, something fundamental, something important,” he said.
The pope’s controversial comments come as population rates face a steep decline in the west in recent years.
