Pope: No Need to Breed ‘Like Rabbits’

Upon his return from Asia, Pope Francis suggested that Catholics shouldn’t feel like they have to breed “like rabbits,” and can follow church-approved natural contraceptive methods to prevent them from having too many children. “Some think, excuse me if I use the word, that in order to be good Catholics, we have to be like rabbits—but no,” he said to reporters while flying from the Philippines to Rome. However, the 78-year-old Argentine reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s stance on contraception, condemning artificial birth-control methods and criticizing the Philippines’ recent legislation to make contraceptives more accessible to the public.