Pope Francis, leader of the Catholic Church for those living under rocks, in caves, or in schismatic Catholic cults, recently expressed, in our over-populated world, his horror at the idea of not having children, of care for, instead, house pets:
Pope Francis lamented Wednesday that manycouples are choosing to have pets over children, saying that a trend of forgoing child-rearing “takes some of our humanity away.”
The pontiff started his weekly addressat the Vatican by praising the paternal virtues of the biblical Joseph. But his reflection on the importance of parenthood shifted to a warning about dwindling birthrates, encouraging people to “take the risk of welcoming children,” biological or adopted.
“Today … we see a form of selfishness,” the pope said, according to translations in multiple reports. “We see that some people do not want to have a child.” [WaPo]
Now, I get it. From a strategic point of view, making new Catholics is difficult without the raw material of young, malleable children. This is especially true in a world where the young generations aren’t afraid to observe the misbehaviors of the representatives of the Church, judge, and act on those judgments. You need lots of kids just to get enough to replace those lost to normal demographic forces. Stealing believers from other sects is not a lucrative business model.
But Pope Francis has a reputation for being a step up from the prior two Popes, and so his final argument was really a let-down, at least in my eyes:
“It might be better — more comfortable — to have a dog, two cats, and the love goes to the two cats and the dog. Is this true or not? Have you seen it?” Pope Francis said, according to Religion News Service. “Then, in the end this marriage comes to old age in solitude, with the bitterness of loneliness.”
Just a simple threat. He pleads that we continue the overpopulation trend in order to be selfish.
In the end, there’s nearly 8 billion humans on this planet. If you want kids, have kids. If you don’t, don’t. But don’t let religious manipulation run your life. Having kids as virtual cannon fodder is a dubious endeavour.
