In a move likely to raise the hackles of millions of cats, dogs and their human cohabitees, Pope Francis has suggested that couples who prefer pets to children are selfish. “Having a child is always a risk, but there is more risk in not having a child,” he said. The former are depicted as lonely, unloved women, and the latter as self-centred narcissists or careerists for whom babies and children are inconvenient. In Italy 22% fewer babies were born in December 2020 than in the same month a year earlier. In 2014 Francis told Il Messaggero newspaper that having pets instead of children was “another phenomenon of cultural degradation”, and that emotional relationships with pets was easier than the “complex” relationship between parents and children.

Source: The Guardian January 06, 2022 03:21 UTC