Ο Pope Francis he put it up with pet caregivers, saying that those who choose animals as substitutes for childbearing exhibit "a certain kind of selfishness."
Speaking about parenthood in public at the Vatican, the pope protested that pets "sometimes take the place of children."
He condemned not having children
"Today… we see a specific form of egoism. "We see that some people do not want to have children," he said. "Sometimes they make one and stop, but they have dogs and cats that take the place of children. "It may make people laugh, but it's the truth."
The practice, said the head of the Catholic Church with 1,3 billion believers around the world, "is the denial of fatherhood and motherhood and annihilates us, alienates our humanity."
Therefore, "civilization is aging without humanity, because we are losing the wealth of fatherhood and motherhood and finally it is our country that suffers," he stressed.
Pope Francis has been photographed stroking dogs, placing a lamb on his shoulders at Epiphany 2014 and has even stroked tiger and panther babies.
But while his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, loved cats, Francis does not, it is known, have a pet at his Vatican residence.
"Gangrene" the childless by choice
In 2014, Pope Francis told Il Messagero that having pets instead of children is "another phenomenon of cultural decline" and that emotional bonds with pets are "easier" than "complicated" relationships between parents and children.
On Wednesday, as he called on couples who could not have biological children to consider the possibility of adoption, he urged potential parents "not to be afraid" of having children. "Having a child is always risky, but not having children is more dangerous," he said.
At the same time, he condemned the "demographic winter", ie the reduced number of births in the developed world.
In the past, he had criticized modern society, in which career and earning money become an obstacle for many to start a family, calling this mentality "social gangrene".
With information from the Guardian
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