Pope Francis slammed for ‘insensitive’ and ‘totally out of touch’ criticisms of couples who have pets instead of kids – sparking comparisons to JD Vance’s ‘childless cat lady’ remark

Pope Francis has been slammed for his comments about couples who choose to have pets instead of kids – with many slamming the religious leader for ‘leading an organisations of celibates’ yet ‘telling others to have more’.

His remarks, made during a trip to Indonesia this week, have also sparked comparisons to US Vice President candidate JD Vance, who has in past said that his country was being run by ‘a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives’.

The head of the Catholic Church sparked outrage after emphasising the importance of large families in a world facing declining birth rates.

Speaking during his tour of Southeast Asia, the Pope praised families with three, four, or five children, calling them an example for other nations, before delivering a snide jibe at childless couples who opt to care for cats and dogs, warning: ‘This cannot go well.’

The Pope’s comments are part of a wider theme in his papacy, where he has repeatedly urged couples to prioritise children over pets, viewing the trend of childlessness as a significant societal issue. 

He has previously expressed frustration over individuals treating their pets like children, recalling an incident in 2023 when a woman asked him to bless a dog she referred to as her ‘baby’ – for which the Pope said: ‘I lost my patience and scolded her.’

Francis has long been vocal about the declining birth rates in the West, particularly in Europe, where the fertility rate has fallen to 1.5 children per woman – well below the replacement rate of 2.1. 

This shift is responsible for what he has referred to in the past as ‘sad’ households, where the focus on pets replaces the joy and responsibility of raising a family.

However, people took to social media to express their upset at the comments, with many suggesting the comments are hypocritical given the Pope ‘chose his career over having kids’.

Speaking to FEMAIL, Harriet Morton-Liddle, co-founder of Nugget Savings – a company on a mission to transform parental leave pay, said the comments were ‘insensitive’ and ‘totally out of touch with the modern-day challenges people are facing’.

‘What’s disappointing about these kinds of comments is that the blame is always relayed back to women and individuals as opposed to looking at the facts of why that is,’ she explained.

‘In the UK, the latest figures for England and Wales show that the average birth rate, also called the total fertility rate, declined to 1.49 children per woman in 2022, from 1.55 in 2021. The rate has been falling since 2010. Why? Because it’s simply too expensive for women and couples to have children.

‘The cost of living crisis, coupled with inflation means that many people who want to be parents simply can’t afford to.

His remarks, made during a trip to Indonesia this week, have also sparked comparisons to US Vice President candidate JD Vance (pictured), who has in past said that his country was being run by ‘a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives’

However, people took to social media to express their upset at the comments, with many suggesting the comments are hypocritical given the Pope ‘chose his career over having kids’ 

‘In the UK, statutory maternity pay is £184.03 per week, or £736.12 per month – hardly enough to cover the average rent in the UK.

‘Additionally, there is currently a huge lack of flexible working options for women, who want to be able to do the school run or nursery drop-offs during or around working hours, but don’t have this option available to them.’

Harriet stressed that ‘companies and the government have to offer more support for those wanting to be parents such as transparent, adequate, parental leave pay and more flexible working options for working parents’.

Elsewhere on the Today Show, Emma Barnett quipped: ‘Lots about childless women and pets in politics at the moment.’

Meanwhile, people online remarked that having more children is not only more expensive, but not ‘sustainable’. 

‘Great thing to say in an overpopulated planet,’ one sarcastic comment said. 

‘Did he give them any advice how to feed, house and educate properly,’ another questioned.

A third hit out that he ‘doesn’t have a clue’ while someone also criticised the remarks being made as kids are ‘dying of hunger’.

‘The planet can only sustain so many people,’ one wrote. ‘Having small families is good.’ 

Another comment stressed that ‘preferring to have pets rather than children is more complex an issue than being religious’.

Others felt the comments sounded similar to remarks made by Trump’s VP candidate, JD Vance, about ‘childless cat ladies’ years ago.

Last month, the politician claimed that Democrats have tried to attack his character for a ‘sarcastic comment’ he made in trying to make a much bigger point about policies that make it harder to want to start a family.

‘Yes, I made a sarcastic comment years ago that I think that a lot of Democrats willfully misinterpreted,’ Vance told NBC Meet the Press host Kristen Welker in August.

‘I regret, certainly, that a lot of people took it the wrong way and I certainly regret that the DNC and Kamala Harris lied about it.’

The entire controversy stems from a 2021 interview Vance had with then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson when he was a candidate for U.S. Senate.

Grand Imam of Istiqlal Mosque Nasaruddin Umar (L) shakes hands with Pope Francis after an interreligious meeting with religious leaders at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta

In the declaration signed in Jakarta, the leaders expressed concern about ‘dehumanisation’ linked to the spread of violence

Vance said at the time that the U.S. was being run by ‘a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.’ 

‘It’s just a basic fact — you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children,’ Vance continued. ‘And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?’

Vice President Harris does not have any children of her own but is a stepmother to husband Doug Emhoff’s two kids Ella and Cole. 

Vice President Harris does not have any children of her own but is a stepmother to husband Doug Emhoff’s two kids Ella and Cole. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg now has twins he adopted with husband Chasten. 

The controversy comes amid Pope Francis’s tour of South East Asia, where he also warned against using religion to stoke conflict in a speech delivered alongside a highly influential imam.  

The pope and Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar signed a declaration at Istiqlal Mosque in one of the final major set pieces of Francis’s three-day visit to the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, which kicked off a gruelling tour around the Asia-Pacific.

Vance said at the time that the U.S. was being run by ‘a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too’

Unity between faiths has been the central theme of the pontiff’s trip and the declaration called for ‘religious harmony for the sake of humanity’ at Southeast Asia’s biggest mosque.

‘The global phenomenon of dehumanisation is marked especially by widespread violence and conflict. It is particularly worrying that religion is often instrumentalised in this regard,’ it read.

‘The role of religion should include promoting and safeguarding the dignity of every human life.’

In a speech before leaders of Indonesia’s six recognised religions – Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism – Francis underlined a message of unity, saying ‘we are all brothers, all pilgrims, all on our way to God, beyond what differentiates us.’

The pope was welcomed to the mosque by a percussion band often used in Islamic ceremonies.

Once seated, he and Nasaruddin listened to a passage from the Koran recited by a young blind girl and a passage from the Bible.

Francis also visited a ‘tunnel of friendship’ that links the mosque to Jakarta’s cathedral across the street, signing a section of the tunnel.

The declaration also pinpointed the environmental crisis as a threat to human civilisation and called for ‘decisive action’ to counter global warming.

‘The human exploitation of creation, our common home, has contributed to climate change,’ it read.

It said climate change had led ‘to various destructive consequences such as natural disasters, global warming and unpredictable weather patterns’.

Francis has made several visits to Muslim-majority countries, and on a 2019 visit to the United Arab Emirates signed a document on human brotherhood with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam’s prestigious seat of learning. Pictured today in Indonesia 

Catholics represent fewer than three percent of the population of Indonesia – about eight million people, compared with the 87 percent, or 242 million, who are Muslim

Nasaruddin said before the meeting that he and the pope were focused on two messages.

‘The first one… humanity is only one, there are no colours. The second one, how to save our environment,’ he said.

Francis has made several visits to Muslim-majority countries, and on a 2019 visit to the United Arab Emirates signed a document on human brotherhood with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam’s prestigious seat of learning.

The trip to Indonesia is the third ever by a pope and the first since John Paul II in 1989.

Catholics represent fewer than three percent of the population of Indonesia – about eight million people, compared with the 87 percent, or 242 million, who are Muslim.

Francis later moved from the mosque to the headquarters of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference headquarters where onlookers chanted ‘Viva Il Papa!’.

But the biggest event of his Indonesia leg comes this afternoon when he will deliver a mass to nearly 80,000 people seated inside Indonesia’s main football stadium, with tens of thousands more expected outside.

The mass will conclude his Indonesian stopover of a 12-day trip that has tested the pontiff’s fragile health.

On Friday he will go to Papua New Guinea before stops in East Timor and Singapore in what will be the longest tour of his papacy.

He had not travelled abroad since visiting Marseille in France in September last year.

Accompanying him to Indonesia are his personal doctor and two nurses, but that is standard procedure.