In Defense of Animals’ Interfaith Vegan Coalition and the Compassion Consortium object to Pope Francis’ recent pronouncement that not having children and that living with cats and dogs are selfish acts.
In his remarks on January 5, Pope Francis stated, “Many couples do not have children because they do not want to, or they have just one – but they have two dogs, two cats… And this denial of fatherhood or motherhood diminishes us, it takes away our humanity… a man or woman who does not develop the sense of fatherhood or motherhood, they are lacking something, something fundamental, something important.”
Reverend Sarah Bowen, animal chaplain and co-founder of the Compassion Consortium declared, “Animal lovers around the world gasped, yet Pope Francis’ words offer us all an opportunity to deeply consider our relationships with other species. With all due respect to the pope, in a time of climate crisis, economic pressure, war, poverty, hunger, and anthropogenic violence, some of us are lacking nothing by choosing not to have children. Rather we are gaining something: true respect and reverence for the complexities of living in an interspecies world where the needs of human animals and other-than-human animals are often in conflict and always entangled.”
Judy Carman, M.A., author and co-founder of the Interfaith Vegan Coalition, agreed and asked us all to question the content of such a Papal announcement. “Many of our most pressing problems today, including the sixth mass extinction of wild animals, have resulted from human beings’ disconnection of and fear of nature. For many, a family dog, cat or bunny may be their only connection to the world of interspecies communication. Animals have a great deal to teach us, and we had best listen to them during these troubled times. The Bible itself speaks of this: ‘But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you.’ (Job 12:7-25 7)”
Reverend Bowen adds that Pope Francis’ suggestion that couples should adopt children if they are unable to have them does not consider the procedural and legal complexities of adoption, the significant cost of adopting and raising a child that may be out of reach for many couples, and issues for the LGBTQ community, adding, “While concerns for the welfare of orphans is admirable, the Church can’t have it both ways. Pope Francis suggests that humans who cannot have children should adopt one — while Catholic organizations continue to deny same-sex couples the right to adopt.”
Studies have found that living in an interspecies home has many benefits, such as decreasing depression and feelings of loneliness, lowering stress and anxiety, and improving cardiovascular health. On the other hand, some people who keep animals are abusive to them, or buy them from breeders or puppy mills instead of adopting. Feeding animal companions also often means other animals will be killed in factory farms. We acknowledge that animal guardianship is a complicated and controversial topic.
Yet, because Pope Francis has made prior efforts to raise consciousness about the impact of humanity on the Earth and the interconnection of Creation, his words this week surprised many. For example, in “Laudato Si,” his 2015 encyclical on the environment, he wrote, “Because all creatures are connected, each must be cherished with love and respect.” We believe this week’s comments are a backward step.
To suggest that loving — or living with — cats and dogs is selfish is to imply that love is something that is of limited supply. We prefer to heed Pope Francis’ earlier words, and cherish each animal with love and respect.
As Dostoevsky wrote, “Love all God’s creation, the whole of it and every grain of sand. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything… And you will at last come to love the whole world with an abiding, universal love.”
“We applaud Pope Francis’ commitment to the environment, yet we question his intentions to admonish those who choose to live with animal companions instead of having human children. Adopting or rescuing animal companions can provide a welcome source of unconditional love and an environmentally-friendly alternative to human children,” said Lisa Levinson, of In Defense of Animals and co-founder of the Interfaith Vegan Coalition. “Interfaith Vegan Coalition members and our partner organization Animal Interfaith Alliance represent thousands of people of diverse faiths and express concerns from the faith-based vegan community.”
Our rapidly increasing population harms everyone. Human population growth drives animal agriculture, which is the greatest contributor to the environmental crisis, and threatens all life on Earth. In an effort to address this, the Interfaith Vegan Coalition, Animal Interfaith Alliance and Compassion Consortium are among many individuals and organizations urging world leaders to adopt the Plant Based Treaty as a companion to the Paris Agreement to stop animal agriculture from causing further devastation.
In Defense of Animals started the Interfaith Vegan Coalition to help animal activists and spiritual leaders bring vegan values to spiritual, ethical, and religious communities. The coalition provides faith-based tools to help all faith and secular wisdom traditions practice the ideals of nonviolence, lovingkindness, and harmlessness toward all animals. The coalition is composed of 34 member organizations, 2 allied organizations, and one partner organization Animal Interfaith Alliance comprising 17 organizations, all working in harmony for a common cause.
The primary reason I quit the Catholic Church over its teachings is, as a child I loved animals (still do) like many, if not most children. I was being indoctrinated to regard as ethically “normal” stripping other animals of any moral standing in order to uphold human exceptionalism and facilitate human domination over them without moral qualms. When it comes down to human needs and human pleasures versus animal lives and suffering, all the major religions fail. As long as they consider animals “property,” given no moral standing, and abusing them is not considered a sin and a crime–no matter… Read more »