During a public audience on Wednesday, the pontiff bemoaned the phenomenon of dropping birth rates and chastised "a certain selfishness" that he sees as endemic in today's culture.
“The other day, I spoke about the demographic winter there is nowadays, in which we see that people do not want to have children, or just one and no more,” According to a Vatican-provided English version, he remarked. “And many, many couples do not have children because they do not want to, or they have just one — but they have two dogs, two cats. … Yes, dogs and cats take the place of children.”
"The rejection of fatherhood or motherhood degrades us," he claims, because "it takes away our humanity."
“Fatherhood and motherhood are the fullness of the life of a person,” he said.
WATCH: "WE WILL OPEN YOU UP LIKE A SOFT PEANUT"
While the pope admitted that "having a child, whether naturally or through adoption, is always a risk," he concluded that "it is riskier not to have children."
“It is riskier to deny fatherhood, or to deny motherhood, be it real or spiritual,” he said. “But denial, a man or woman who do not develop the sense of fatherhood or motherhood, they are lacking something, something fundamental, something important.”
WATCH: HOW WAS JURY SELECTION HANDLED IN TRUMP'S TRIAL?
Pope Francis has cautioned about the long-term consequences of low fertility rates.
“Civilization becomes aged and without humanity because it loses the richness of fatherhood and motherhood. And our homeland suffers, as it does not have children, and, as it has been said somewhat humorously, ‘and now who will pay the taxes for my pension if there are no children?’... [I]t is the truth.”
A LOOK INSIDE DEMOCRATS' PLAN TO WIN BACK THE HOUSE WITH RECORD INVESTMENT
Fertility rates in Western countries, notably the United States, are continuing to plummet, indicating that women are having fewer children than earlier generations.
According to Pew Research Center data, the overall fertility rate in the United States – the number of births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 — hit a new low of 59 in 2018. Since 1960, when the post-World War II baby boom was at its peak when there were more than 120 births per 1,000 women of reproductive age, the overall fertility rate has been slashed in half.
During the same time period, the total fertility rate — defined as a hypothetical assessment of how many children the average woman might have in her lifetime if current reproductive patterns continue – fell. In 1960, women were projected to produce 3.6 children on average. The average number of children per woman had declined to 1.73 by 2018. In 2018, both the general and total fertility rates in the United States hit new lows.
DEMS' LAST-MINUTE BID TO SAVE SEATS AMID SOUTHERN BORDER TURMOIL!
Fertility rates and the overall number of births continued to decline through 2020, according to preliminary statistics given by the US Centers for Disease Control in May 2021. According to the organization, the United States only had 3,605,201 births in 2020, the lowest number since 1979 and a 4% decrease from 2019.
ICE BLUNDER: AFGHAN NATIONAL SUSPECTED OF TERROR TIES ESCAPES U.S. TRACKING PROGRAM IN DAYS...
In 2020, the total fertility rate was below the replacement rate, which is defined as "the amount at which a given generation can exactly replace itself," according to the CDC. In 2020, the total fertility rate was 1.64, which was lower than the replacement rate of 2.1. Pope Francis' worries about a "demographic winter" are backed up by decades of statistics.
FOX NEWS COLUMNIST TEARS APART MTG'S "RECKLESS AGENDA"
"[t]he rate has generally been below replacement since 1971 and has been consistently below replacement since 2007." says the CDC.
Francis focused on "Saint Joseph as the Father of Jesus" at his public audience. "The institution of adoption was highly popular in ancient periods of the East," he said. He said that Joseph was Jesus' adopted father, and that Jesus' biological father was God.
ARMY FINANCIAL ADVISOR'S DOUBLE LIFE: HOW HE DUPED GRIEVING MILITARY FAMILIES FOR MILLIONS
Francis emphasizes Joseph's fatherly relationship with his adopted son.
“We live in an age of notorious orphanhood, don’t we? It is curious: our civilization is something of an orphan, and this orphanhood can be felt,” he said. “May Saint Joseph, who took the place of the real father, God, help us to understand how to resolve this sense of orphanhood that is so harmful to us today.”
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS POINTS FINGER AT BIDEN: BLAMES ADMINISTRATION AMID MIGRANT PROTESTS
“I think in a particular way of all those who are open to welcome life by the way of adoption,” he continued. “This kind of choice is among the highest forms of love, and of fatherhood and motherhood. How many children in the world are waiting for someone to take care of them! And how many married couples want to be fathers and mothers but are unable to do so for biological reasons; or, although they already have children, they want to share their family’s affection with those who do not have it.”
"Take the 'risk' of welcoming children," the Pope said, emphasizing that "no one [should] be deprived of the connection of father love."
Discover alternative ideas that will make you think
Engage in mind bending debate
Earn points, rise in rank, have fun
