The Pope has called for young Italians to have more kids over pets, a behaviour which the holy man called “selfish” and “egotistical”.

As Italy recorded a record low number of live births last year, 392,598 compared to deaths, Pope Francis speaking at an annual gathering of pro-family organisations said:

“Let us not resign ourselves to sterile dullness and pessimism. Let us not believe that history is already marked, that nothing can be done to reverse the trend,”

The Pope made note of the current social obstacles preventing young Italians starting families saying, “We need to prepare fertile ground for a new spring to blossom and leave this demographic winter behind us,”

“Reviving the birthrate means repairing the forms of social exclusion that are affecting young people and their future,” he added.

Alongside him was Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni who’s party are considered right wing, also advocated for a reversal to the “demographic winter” in the country.

“We live in an era in which speaking about the birthrate, of maternity, of family has become even more difficult, sometimes it seems almost a revolutionary act,” said Meloni.

“We want it no longer to be scandalous to say that we are all born of a man and a woman, that it is not taboo to say that the birthrate is not for sale, that the uterus cannot be rented and children are not over-the-counter products that you can choose and then perhaps return,” she said.