▲ Pope Francis is delighted when a believer asks for a blessing on a newborn baby during a Wednesday general audience at the Vatican on the 5th (local time).
Vatican City AFP Yonhap News
Pope Francis, 85, has criticized couples who refuse to have children as “a form of selfishness”. It can be taken as a statement that can be justified as an adult of that age, especially as the supreme leader of the Catholic Church, but it can be countered that it is a perception that is far from the thoughts of the younger generation these days and the reality they are facing.
According to the British BBC report, during a general audience on Wednesday (local time), the Pope said, “Too many couples either don’t want children because they don’t want them, or they have only one because they don’t want more.” “They do, however, have two dogs and two cats,” he said. “Puppies and cats are replacing children. I don’t know if it’s a statement that will make people laugh, but this is the reality.”
He emphasized that the reason modern civilized society is aging and losing humanity is because it is losing the richness of being a parent. He then argued that people who are unable to have children for biological reasons should consider adoption and that people “shouldn’t worry” about becoming parents.
After reports of declining birth rates in Italy last week, Pope Francis said several countries with declining birth rates are facing a ‘demographic winter’.
This isn’t the first time Pope Francis has criticized people for choosing pets over children. In 2014, he defined it as “a facet of cultural decline” and analyzed that it was “easier” to build an emotional relationship with a companion animal than a complex relationship between parents and children.
In the past, the Pope was caught on camera with various animals, from dogs to leopards, but personally, I do not think that he has a companion animal. During a visit to the United States in 2015, the hashtag #popedog became popular on Instagram because of a photo of dog owners wearing clothes similar to the Pope’s uniform. When asked if the Pope knew that hashtags were in vogue at the time, a Vatican spokesman replied: “I can only guess that he has much more important things to think about.”
▲ When Pope Francis visited the United States in 2015, a man with a dog dressed in a design similar to the papal uniform greets him warmly.
AFP file photo
Byeong-seon Lim, Executive Director, Peace Research Institute bsnim@seoul.co.kr
