Pope Francis Discusses ‘Selfishness’ of People Choosing Having Pets Over Kids
Well..this one is interesting.
Pope Francis spoke with the general public at the Vatican on Wednesday and he had some choice words for those who have pets instead of children.
Here's his full statement (taken from Vatican transcript of Pope Francis' General Audience on January 5th):
And today, with orphanhood, there is a certain selfishness. The other day, I spoke about the demographic winter there is nowadays, in which we see that people do not want to have children, or just one and no more. And many, many couples do not have children because they do not want to, or they have just one – but they have two dogs, two cats… Yes, dogs and cats take the place of children. Yes, it’s funny, I understand, but it is the reality. 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.
Let's break this down a bit. There will always be a multitude of topics that cause controversy and uproar. Religion and politics are the front runners. Opinions within these topics are 90% what I would define as 'hot takes'.
Obviously, The Pope is the leader of the Catholic Church. Followers of the religion deem his word as correct and the right way.
When I heard what he said in reference to children, I had many thoughts. And so did the internet.
As a single, childless 30-year-old woman with a pet...I feel like I can easily speak on this. I do not agree with The Pope for a multitude of reasons.
- Children are expensive. Pets are less expensive. That's easy math.
- There are people who simply cannot have children.
- Foster care and orphanages are filled with children who go neglected day after day.
- There are people who do not want children.
- Calling someone selfish for not reproducing is...outlandish and bizarre, in my opinion. Free will is a thing? If I don't want to have a kid, I'm not going to.
Look, regardless of what your opinion is -- I don't think someone can call someone else selfish for not being a mother or father. There are other things in someone's life that can define them.
What do you think of The Pope's comments?