ROME — Pope Francis lamented Wednesday that many couples today choose not to have children but get dogs or cats instead.
“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,” the pope told those gathered for his weekly General Audience in the Vatican.
“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,” he said. “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,” Francis said. “And in this way civilization becomes aged and without humanity, because it loses the richness of fatherhood and motherhood.”
The pontiff’s reflections on fatherhood and motherhood came during an address on the figure of Saint Joseph, the foster father of Jesus.
A pup joins Pope Francis sits during a meeting with refugees in Mytilene on the island of Lesbos on December 5, 2021. (LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
“I ask of Saint Joseph the grace to awaken consciences and to think about this: about having children. Fatherhood and motherhood are the fullness of the life of a person,” he said, urging married couples to “think about having children, of giving life, which they will take from you for the future.”
The pope also spoke at length about adoption, inviting those who cannot have children to consider it seriously.
If you cannot have children, “think about adoption,” he said. “It is a risk, yes: having a child is always a risk, either naturally or by adoption. But it is riskier not to have them. It is riskier to deny fatherhood, or to deny motherhood, be it real or spiritual.”
“But denial, a man or woman who do not develop the sense of fatherhood or motherhood, they are lacking something, something fundamental, something important. Think about this, please,” he said.
Adoption “is such a generous and beautiful, good attitude,” he said. “This kind of choice is among the highest forms of love, and of fatherhood and motherhood.”
“How many children in the world are waiting for someone to take care of them!” he continued. “And how many married couples want to be fathers and mothers but are unable to do so for biological reasons.”
“We should not be afraid to choose the path of adoption, to take the ‘risk’ of welcoming children,” he said.