‘Coward’: Pope Francis Blasted for Criticizing ‘Selfish’ Couples Who Choose Pets over Children

Pope Francis leaves at the end of the New Year's day mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the V
TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty
Paul Bois

Pope Francis has taken a beating on social media for suggesting that couples who adopt pets over children are “selfish” as he addressed population decline.

“Today… we see a form of selfishness,” the pope said during his general audience on Wednesday. “We see that some people do not want to have a child. Sometimes they have one, and that’s it, but they have dogs and cats that take the place of children.”

For couples unable to have children, the Holy Father urged them to adopt children rather than go childless.

“How many children in the world are waiting for someone to take care of them!” he said. “It is a risk, yes: having a child is always a risk, either naturally or by adoption,” the pope explained. “But it is riskier not to have them. It is riskier to deny fatherhood, or to deny motherhood, be it real or spiritual.”

Social media erupted with attacks against the pope, calling him a hypocrite for not having children of his own:

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