Pope Francis criticizes people who choose to have pets instead of children

Pope Francis criticized people who decided not to have children, but to have pets instead. The pope was speaking to a general audience on Wednesday, when he turned his sermon to fatherhood.

"We have so many children without fathers and the challenges of this in society today, we notice," Pope Francis said. "Fathers are not born but made. A man does not become a father by bringing a child into the world, but by taking up the responsibility to care for that child." He used the example of Joseph, who brought up Jesus, and parents who choose to adopt children.

Pope Francis said "many couples do not have children because they do not want to, or they only have one and not more. But they have domestic animals – two dogs, two cats." He called the decision not to have children a form of "selfishness," according to BBC News.