Cool Pope (real name) just came back from visiting the largest Catholic nation in Asia and he's got some thoughts he needs to let out, namely the fact that maybe catholics have a "moral responsibility" not to have as many kids as they're having.
Of course Cool Pope doesn't say that Catholics should use contraception, but according to USA Today he says there are lots of ways that his flock can practice "responsible parenting" that doesn't involve the outside world invading their families nor produces so many children that parents have a hard time taking care of them.
From USA Today:
His comments on the subject of birth control, made aboard the papal jet returning to Rome from the Philippines, were described as apparently unprecedented by the National Catholic Reporter, an independent news organization that follows the Vatican.
Francis said there are plenty of church-approved ways to regulate births. He also said no outside institution should impose its views on regulating family size, blasting what he called "ideological colonization" of the developing world.
African bishops have long complained that Western ideas about birth control and gay rights are being imposed on the developing world by groups, institutions or nations, often as a condition for development aid.
"Every people deserves to conserve its identity without being ideologically colonized," Francis said.
The Pope took questions for over an hour on the papal jet after his trip to The Philippines and while some say he was showing his more "conservative" side by telling reporters that catholics should fight the "idealogical colonization" of the western world, he also showed that he wasn't afraid to lay the smackdown on people who just didn't get it when it came to having too many kids.
The pope cited the case of a woman he met who was pregnant with her eighth child after seven Cesarean sections. "That is an irresponsibility!" he said. The woman might argue that she should trust in God. "But God gives you methods to be responsible," he said.
He said there are many "licit" ways of regulating births that are approved by the church, an apparent reference to the family planning method of monitoring a woman's cycle to avoid intercourse when she is ovulating.
"God gives you methods to be responsible," he said, according to the National Catholic Reporter's account. "Some think that — excuse the word — that in order to be good Catholics we have to be like rabbits. No."
So there you have it, even the pope is saying that people who don't have the means to take care of children should constantly and consistently divide and multiply for the greater good. No word yet on how the news is being taken by the Duggars, who, if past behavior s any indication, might soon be outraged and go on a crying tour to demand that this pope be removed. How long before Cool Pope is referred to as a rabid child-hating activist?
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