According to a panelist at a Vatican-run workshop, Pope Francis is urging people to have fewer children if they cannot bring them up properly.

On Thursday, botanist and environmentalist Peter Raven, president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, made the comments at a press conference concluding the Vatican's Biological Extinction workshop, LifeSiteNews reported.

Raven was a panelist for a discussion on how to save the natural world.

"We need at some point to have a limited number of people which is why Pope Francis and his three most recent predecessors have always argued that you should not have more children than you can bring up properly," Raven said.

"In the framework of social justice worldwide we need to find ways for natural resources to be distributed on the basis of compassion and love," he continued. "We hope for support in our ongoing support for our endeavor to develop sustainability."

Editor's Note: A previous version of this story, based on a report by LifeSiteNews, stated that Raven was quoted as saying the Pope was urging people to have fewer children to make the world more sustainable. This article has since been corrected to reflect the new report.

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