Dedicating his audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday to the relationship between the generations, the Argentine pope made a long deviation from the “mythical character” of the mother-in-law and said that they often fall victim to “clichés”. He added: “I do not say that we see her as the devil, but she is always presented in a derogatory way. “But the mother-in-law is your husband’s mother and your wife’s mother.” Likewise, he urged brides to take care of their relationships with their mothers-in-law. “… they gave birth to your wife,” he said. “At least make them happy.” The pope also had advice for the mothers-in-law themselves. “I tell you, be careful how you express yourself,” he said. The 85-year-old Pope added: “We say to ourselves ‘the farther away your mother-in-law is, the better.’ But no – she is a mother, she is old. One of the most beautiful things for a woman is to have grandchildren. “When her children become children, he brings her back to life.” This is not his first raid on the subject. In 2015, Francis told a crowd of thousands in the United States: “Families quarrel and sometimes the dishes can fly and children bring headaches and I will not talk about mothers-in-law.”
