Pope Calls Couples Who Choose Pets over Having Children ‘Selfish’

THE GUARDIAN: Pontiff says denial of fatherhood and motherhood diminishes people and takes away their humanity

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

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

“Today … we see a form of selfishness. We see that some people do not want to have a child,” he said. “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.”

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 pontiff said at the Paul VI Hall. » | Agence France-Presse in Vatican City | Wednesday, January 5, 2022

The Hand that Rocks the Cradle Cannot Rock the Boardroom

Allison Pearson took on a gathering of ferociously ambitious Chinese businesswomen to argue that you can't excel in the boardroom and be the perfect mother at home

Read and comment on the Telegraph article here | Friday, March 21, 2014
My comment:

I must confess that I find it hard to understand women’s obsession with having it all: a career, motherhood, and wifehood. It seems to me that they end up like the proverbial dog chasing its tail – always attempting to catch it, but never quite doing so.

Whatever happened to the concept of mothers putting baby first? Whatever happened to mothers tending to baby’s needs, first and foremost?

This obsession women have of being successful in their careers has led to an awful lot of trouble in society. To start with, the divorce rate has shot through the roof. Further, the house is often no longer the home. It was always said that the mother was the heart of the home; but with mothers being absent from the home for much of the day, they can no longer fulfil this rôle properly.

Then we come to the fact that all these working mothers have driven up the price of houses. So much so that it is now virtually impossible for many married couples even to entertain the idea that the wife might be better off staying home, rather than going out to the workplace.

But what have we gained in all this? Are people really so much better off? And what about the health of the mother? Are they really doing their long-term health any good by pushing themselves so much? And this, of course, ignores the long-term damage done to so many children, many of whom simply go off the rails.

I’d be interested to know if any others feel as I do. Am I really such a lone voice? – © Mark

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