Pope Francis has said many things which have left me shaking my head. This is now on that list.
During a Q&A session towards the end of the meeting, Francis spoke of a “pastoral cruelty,” such as priests who refuse to baptize the children of young single mothers.
“They’re animals,” he said. “This is individualism.”
Look. Not agreeing to baptize a child is confusing to me. I haven’t heard of that happening so much that Pope Francis needed to come out strongly against it but hey, maybe it’s going on more than I know.
But calling people “animals” is never good.
Look, if I call someone an animal it’s one thing. I’m a blogger. He’s the pope. Makes me very uncomfortable.
And then he added something else which gives that statement context:
Francis once again complained of those who, beginning with the culture of well-being 20 years ago, chose to have three cats or a dog instead of children. Jokingly he added, “don’t tell the animal welfare societies because I don’t want to offend anyone!”
I know he’s playing it lightly here. But, if you ask me, he plays it light and fast and loose as a rule and leaves people scratching their heads.
