Pope Francis criticized Wednesday couples who chose to have pets over having children as "selfish" as part of his call to resolve the "demographic winter" that is haunting the West where the population continues to decline.

The religious leader was addressing a general audience regarding parenthood and urged people to bear more children. One major factor in the declining population is the coronavirus pandemic that has caused a 7% drop in the national birth rate in the United States in 2020.

'Selfish' Couples

In his statement, the pope said that what people worldwide are seeing is a form of "selfishness," where people are not wanting to have children; instead, they are getting dogs and cats as substitutes for kids.

Pope Francis also urged couples that did not want to have children themselves to instead adopt, pointing to Joseph, the "foster father" of Jesus, as an example of the "highest forms of love" that people can have. The religious leader noted that there were many children in the world who were waiting for someone to take them in and care for them, Fox News reported.

His remarks, though surprising for a progressive pontiff, come parallel to the Catholic Church's teachings about the importance of couples either bearing or raising children. It also claims that there are potential demographic consequences for not doing it.

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During his papacy, Pope Francis has had many animal-related incidents, making similar remarks about couples prioritizing pets in 2014. He also made comments in 2016 that were interpreted as a pronouncement that animals had the right to go to heaven, an analysis that was later called into question.

The situation comes as Pope Francis has, for years, been seen and photographed with various animals. The religious leader has previously petted dogs, a koala, and a tiger while being seen holding boards and carrying a lamb on his shoulders, CNN reported.

Risk of Having Children

Pope Francis also argued that having children has always been a risk, whether a couple chooses natural birth or adoption. However, he said that it was riskier not having children at all, calling the denial of fatherhood and motherhood a risk in and of itself, be it real or spiritual.

The religious leader added that there could have been something with people who did not want to have children, saying a man or woman who did not develop the sense of fatherhood or motherhood were lacking something, whether fundamental or important. Pope Francis's remarks come as Italy's birth rate dropped by 9% last year while Spain saw an 8% drop in crude birth rate that refers to the number of births that happen within a year.

So far in 2022, Pope Francis seems to be thinking more about parenthood as could be seen in his earlier New Year's Day sermon where he called for an end to violence against women for the sake of motherhood. "How much violence is directed against women! Enough! To hurt a woman is to insult God, who from a woman took on our humanity, not through an angel, not directly, but through a woman," said the pope, the New York Post reported.

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