FATHERS and mothers are not born, they are made, Pope Francis said during the continuation of his catechesis on St Joseph at his weekly audience yesterday.
He said parenthood was not just having a child but taking up responsibility for the child.
“I ask of St Joseph the grace to awaken consciences and to think about this – about having children,” Pope Francis said.
“Fatherhood and motherhood are the fullness of the life of a person. Think about this.”
Reflecting on St Joseph, Pope Francis praised Joseph’s dutiful assumption of the fatherhood of Jesus.
This, he said, was true fatherhood.
“A man does not become a father simply by bringing a child into the world, but by taking up the responsibility to care for that child,” he said, quoting his apostolic letter Patris Corde.
“Whenever a man accepts responsibility for the life of another, in some way he becomes a father to that person.”
Pope Francis also spoke about the “demographic winter” being experienced in many countries, where “we see that people do not want to have children, or just one and no more”.
“And many, many couples do not have children because they do not want to, or they have just one – but they have two dogs, two cats… Yes, dogs and cats take the place of children.
“This denial of fatherhood or motherhood diminishes us, it takes away our humanity.
“And in this way civilisation becomes aged and without humanity, because it loses the richness of fatherhood and motherhood.”
He also praised adoption and likened it to the parenthood of St Joseph.
“It is a risk, yes: having a child is always a risk, either naturally or by adoption,” he said.
“But it is riskier not to have them.
“It is riskier to deny fatherhood, or to deny motherhood, be it real or spiritual.”
Pope Francis prayed for those who felt “deprived of the bond of paternal love”.
“And those who are afflicted with orphanhood, may they go forward without this unpleasant feeling,” he said.
“May Saint Joseph protect, and give his help to orphans.”
