Bob CollinsPope Francis has delivered a heaping helping of guilt to couples who have chosen not to have children.
A week or so after saying Catholics shouldn’t breed “like rabbits,” he called childless couples “selfish.”
“A society with a greedy generation, that doesn’t want to surround itself with children, that considers them above all worrisome, a weight, a risk, is a depressed society,” the pope said. “The choice to not have children is selfish. Life rejuvenates and acquires energy when it multiplies: It is enriched, not impoverished.”
The Religion News Service suggests — we’re guessing incorrectly — that his remarks won’t cause a big stir.
The pope’s comments on childbearing and selfishness might spark some commentary, but they are not likely to produce as many headlines as his improvised comments the previous week when he seemed to signal that it was OK for parents to spank their children.
“One time, I heard a father say, ‘At times I have to hit my children a bit, but never in the face so as not to humiliate them,’ ” the pope said. “That’s great. He had a sense of dignity. He should punish, do the right thing, and then move on.”
Over to you, childless couples.
