Pope Francis — "What are we doing with our children? We are making them into little monsters."
What are we doing with our children? We are making them into little monsters.
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About Pope Francis (born 1936)
First Latin American and Jesuit pope (2013-), who has steered the Catholic Church toward pastoral inclusion on LGBTQ pastoral care, divorced Catholics, and climate. Closely associated with Pope John XXIII (the Vatican II reformer pope) and Cardinal Walter Kasper (his theological ally on pastoral reform). For an intellectual contrast, see Cardinal Raymond Burke, American traditionalist cardinal, former head of the Vatican Apostolic Signatura — Burke is the public face of Catholic traditionalism that views Francis's pastoral approach as doctrinally dangerous — he has formally challenged Amoris Laetitia and other Francis reforms.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
This quote voices alarm at how modern parenting and culture are corrupting children's character and moral formation. Francis challenges adults — parents, educators, society — to confront their active role in this damage. Whether through permissiveness, screen overexposure, materialism, or neglect of spiritual grounding, something is going wrong. The rhetorical question demands accountability: not passive observation but urgent recognition that we are the architects of what children become.
Relevance to Pope Francis
Jorge Mario Bergoglio grew up in Buenos Aires and witnessed poverty, family breakdown, and social dysfunction as a Jesuit priest and later Archbishop. His 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia devoted extensive attention to parenting, discipline, and children's moral formation. Francis has repeatedly condemned smartphone addiction, consumerism, and narcissism as threats to healthy childhood. For him, forming children's conscience is a fundamental parental and ecclesial duty — not optional, but essential to human dignity.
The era
Francis's papacy (2013–present) coincides with smartphones saturating childhood — rising youth anxiety, depression, and social media addiction became public health emergencies. Studies documented epidemic narcissism and declining empathy among Gen Z. COVID-19 lockdowns accelerated screen dependency while isolating children from peers and institutions. Simultaneously, debates about permissive parenting, gender ideology in schools, and erosion of religious moral formation intensified globally — all themes Francis has addressed directly from the Vatican.
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