The Pope joins in the sport of insulting large Catholic families

Christoph Schmidt: Holy Father, first of all I would like to say: Thank you very much for all the impressive moments of this week. It is the first time I accompany you, and I would like to say thank you very much. My question: you have talked about the many children in the Philippines, about your joy because there are so many children, but according to some polls the majority of Filipinos think that the huge growth of Filipino population is one of the most important reasons for the enormous poverty in the country. A Filipino woman gives birth to an average of three children in her life, and the Catholic position concerning contraception seem to be one of the few question on which a big number of people in the Philippines do not agree with the Church. What do you think about that?

Pope Francis: I think the number of three children per family that you mentioned – it makes me suffer- I think it is the number experts say is important to keep the population going. Three per couple. When this decreases, the other extreme happens, like what is happening in Italy. I have heard, I do not know if it is true, that in 2024 there will be no money to pay pensioners because of the fall in population. Therefore, the key word, to give you an answer, and the one the Church uses all the time, and I do too, is responsible parenthood. How do we do this? With dialogue. Each person with his pastor seeks how to do carry out a responsible parenthood.

That example I mentioned shortly before about that woman who was expecting her eighth child and already had seven who were born with caesareans. That is a an irresponsibility. That woman might say ‘no, I trust in God.’ But, look, God gives you means to be responsible. Some think that — excuse the language — that in order to be good Catholics, we have to be like rabbits. No. Responsible parenthood. This is clear and that is why in the Church there are marriage groups, there are experts in this matter, there are pastors, one can search; and I know so many ways that are licit and that have helped this. You did well to ask me this.

Another curious thing in relation to this is that for the most poor people, a child is a treasure. It is true that you have to be prudent here too, but for them a child is a treasure. Some would say ‘God knows how to help me’ and perhaps some of them are not prudent, this is true. Responsible paternity, but let us also look at the generosity of that father and mother who see a treasure in every child.”

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/full-text-of-popes-in-flight-interview-from-manila-to-rome-84716/

The rabbits comment was an evil thing to say. It lends ammunition to all the wrong people, the people who are eager (and sometimes already willing) to mock the very husbands and wives who are raising holy and beautiful Catholic families. We know a family, the ———s, who have eight kids under ten, and they are some of the most holy and joyful people we have ever met. They told us that people say to them sometimes, “Hasn’t anyone told you where babies come from?” (Their stock reply: “We know, and we’re experts at it.”)

That’s bad enough. But one day I a woman in our own Catholic parish asked me just that while they were in the room. I was so shocked that I did not reply in the forceful way that I ought to have done.

There are Catholics in our own Catholic parishes who are ready to insult large, beautiful Catholic families. And for the Pope himself to throw the word ‘rabbit’ out there is indefensible. On its own it is insulting and demoralizing, profoundly demoralizing. But worse, it opens up those families to be struck by more arrows and darts. Lord knows the Church is already a hostile environment, where every faithful and serious Catholic is likely to receive frequent wounds. The pope just picked up his slingshot and gave an example of how to shoot even more.

A good pope ought to defend Catholic families. Thanks to Jorge Bergoglio we are going to need stronger armour. Here is a shield and helmet that we can wear, given by Pope Pius XII:

Large families are the most splendid flower-beds in the garden of the Church; happiness flowers in them and sanctity ripens in favorable soil. Every family group, even the smallest, was meant by God to be an oasis of spiritual peace. But there is a tremendous difference: where the number of children is not much more than one, that serene intimacy that gives value to life has a touch of melancholy or of pallor about it; it does not last as long, it may be more uncertain, it is often clouded by secret fears and remorse.

With good reason, it has often been pointed out that large families have been in the forefront as the cradles of saints. We might cite, among others, the family of St. Louis, the King of France, made up of ten children, that of St. Catherine of Siena who came from a family of twenty-five, St. Robert Bellarmine from a family of twelve, and St. Pius X from a family of ten.