(CNN) – Pope Francis has repeated his controversial comments that in some countries people prefer to have pets over children, a message that has struck a chord with many conservatives around the world.
The idea has re-entered the American political dialogue in the wake of a resurfaced video of now-Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance criticizing some prominent Democrats as “women with cats and no children.”
Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019 and has written about his journey to joining the Catholic Church, also sent a series of emails calling Democratic leaders “childless sociopaths” who “have no direct interest in this country.”
Pope Francis, 87, who is in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, made his remarks to political leaders as part of a 12-day tour of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Francisco said: “They are an example for everyone, for all countries in which, perhaps, and this may sound funny, families prefer to have a cat or a dog instead of a child.”
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo laughed at the remark, and Francis turned to him and said, “It’s true, isn’t it?”
In the past, Francis has criticized couples who choose to have pets instead of children, saying that “takes away our humanity.”
The pope has lamented low birth rates in Europe, particularly in Italy, and has backed plans by three governments led by Giorgia Meloni to reverse the trend.
While former President Donald Trump’s running mate and Francis may agree on the importance of having children, the pope’s approach does not match that of Trumpism when it comes to migrants and climate change.
In 2016, Francis called then-presidential candidate Trump’s plan to build a wall to stop migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border as “unChristian.”
