Pope: Catholics don’t have to be ‘like rabbits’

Pope Francis delivers his speech during a Mass in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, in Manila, Philippines, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE–Pope Francis denounced what he calls the “ideological colonization” of families and the developing world, where he said progressive, Western ideas about birth control and gay rights are increasingly being imposed by groups, institutions or individual nations often as a condition for development aid.

No, he said, Catholics don’t have to “be like rabbits” and have more children than is safe or responsible. He said there are plenty of Church-approved ways to regulate births. But he said most importantly, no outside institution should impose its views on families.

Speaking to reporters en route home from the Philippines, he said: “Every people deserves to conserve its identity without being ideologically colonized.”–Nicole Winfield