Popes, People, and Pets

I really don't know what to make of Pope Francis. Bluntly said, and Heaven help me if I'm wrong, I've found myself wondering whether he is an anti-Pope of some sort, given his apparent blind eye toward critical issues and events within the Church and seeming anathema over certain traditions. Then he says something which is actually bold and forceful, and is unfairly maligned. He says something which is exactly the sort of thing one should expect that the leader of the Catholic Church might say, and gets lambasted for it.

Stripped of the overwrought emotion which the Holy Father's critics have aimed at him, all Pope Francis effectively said the other day (you can read his actual words here: Pope and pets ) was that when people in a legitimate position to have children choose to raise or rescue animals in place of having or adopting human children, they are selfish. He asserted this on the very reasonable ground that human beings are more important than animals, that people simply are on a higher moral plane than other creatures on Earth. Our obligations toward our fellow human beings are naturally more demanding on us than our obligations towards mere animals.

I don't see a thing in the world wrong with such an attitude. Of all the criticisms I've heard lobbed at him over his remarks, he didn't at all condemn those who, through no fault of their own, couldn't have children. He didn't say there weren't legitimate psychological, physical, medical, economic or other reasons not to have kids. He didn't say people were wrong to be single by choice (or certainly by circumstance). He didn't say it was wrong to have pets, or that animals should be treated poorly. He simply said that if you're in a reasonable position to support kids you should, up to and including adoption, and that thus choosing to have pets instead of children wrongly puts animals above people. Simple as that. It's a valid point to make, and based on what Catholic teaching has held for centuries.

If you don't agree with him, fine, don't agree with him. But he expressed a perfectly true sentiment which ought not shock anyone: people are more important than animals, and deserve greater care and consideration than they do.  Real, and even potential, children, merit it. Using that guide, the Pope merely asserts that pets and other animals should never be put before or in place of kids in the grand scheme of things.

And you know what? He's right.