The Pope's polemic against childless couples

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The Pope has done it again. During his almost two-week trip to Asia, Francis praised the abundance of children in Indonesian families who have "three, four, five or more children". This makes them a role model for other countries "where people prefer a dog or a cat to a child".

It should be clear who the Pope is alluding to. He repeatedly complains about the low birth rates and the ageing population, especially in Italy, but also in other European countries. He accuses people of not fathering any or only one child and instead acquiring pets as a less care and cost-intensive alternative. Francis' criticism of childless couples is therefore always also a (very superficial) criticism of a lack of social responsibility in favour of consumption and self-fulfilment.

What the Pope overlooks, however, is that his polemical words pit large families and childless couples/people against each other. In this country, too, we are familiar with envy debates in both directions. Childless people complain about the preferential tax treatment of parents through child allowances, for example, while couples with children argue that their own offspring cost a lot of money and will ultimately finance the pensions of childless people later on. Careless statements such as the Pope's only exacerbate these tensions.

But Francis overlooks something else in his generalised jubilation about the abundance of children: the general conditions and motivation to have (or not to have) children vary greatly around the world. It is about issues such as financial relief from the state, the compatibility of family and career, the reintegration of mothers into the labour market or, quite fundamentally, the self-determination of women. While in some latitudes children present their parents with major financial challenges, in others they are an indispensable source of financial support - including the major problem of child labour in many parts of Latin America, Asia and Africa.

So instead of welcoming a wealth of children across the board and criticising childless couples, Francis should rather point out the associated social ills. And last but not least, he should also respect the very personal decision that some people make to deliberately decide not to have children.