Pope suggests people who have pets, not children, are ‘selfish’

Pope Francis tells audience in Vatican that dogs and cats sometimes take the place of children and not having offspring is ‘form of selfishness’

It is not the first time he has aired such views; in 2014 he said having pets instead of children was ‘another phenomenon of cultural degradation’

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Pope Francis leads his weekly general audience in the Vatican on January 5. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 11:29pm, 5 Jan 2022Updated: 11:54pm, 5 Jan 2022

Pope Francis risked the ire of the world’s childless dog and cat owners on Wednesday, suggesting people who substitute pets for children exhibit “a certain selfishness”.

Speaking on parenthood during a general audience at the Vatican, Francis lamented that pets “sometimes take the place of children” in society.

“Today … we see a form of selfishness,” said the pope. “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. This may make people laugh but it is a reality.”

Pope Francis leads the weekly general audience in the Vatican on Wednesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

The practice, said the head of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics, “is a denial of fatherhood and motherhood and diminishes us, takes away our humanity”.

Thus, “civilisation grows old without humanity because we lose the richness of fatherhood and motherhood, and it is the country that suffers”, the 85-year-old pontiff said at the Paul VI Hall.