Pope Francis Criticizes ‘Selfish’ Couples Who Choose Pets Over Having Kids

Pope Francis, in a comment that won’t go down well with many pet owners, has said that people who adopt animals instead of having human children are “selfish.”

On Wednesday, the Pope shared his views on family during a talk at the Vatican, per the Guardian. “Today…we see a form of selfishness. We see that some people do not want to have a child,” said Pope Francis. “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 added that in choosing pet ownership over parenthood, people present “a denial of fatherhood and motherhood and diminishes us, takes away our humanity.” He acknowledged that some cannot have children biologically for a multitude of reasons, saying they should consider adopting. “Having a child is always a risk, but there is more risk in not having a child, in denying paternity,” he said

The 85-year-old also seemed to refer to the threat of declining birth rates in various countries, which he called a “demographic winter” in which “we see that people do not want to have children, or just one and no more.”

As NPR reported in 2015, the Pope previously said that couples who do not have children are “selfish” and represent a “greedy generation.”

His comments come a month after he suggested sex outside of marriage “is not the most serious sin.” Francis shared his thoughts on the matter after he was asked about the resignation of Michel Aupetit, the Archbishop of Paris, who stepped down last month after it was alleged he engaged in a sexual affair with an unnamed woman.

“Sins of the flesh are not the most serious,” Pope Francis said. “We’re all sinners. When the gossip grows and grows and removes someone’s good name, he cannot govern.”