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Pope Francis’s advice to Catholics that they need not feel an obligation to breed “like rabbits” has drawn the ire of people who know a thing or two about the subject – rabbit breeders, The Telegraph reports.

An association of breeders in Germany says that contrary to popular opinion, rabbits do not have a rampant sex drive and that the Pope should have chosen his words more carefully.

The Argentinean pontiff made the remarks on board the papal plane as he returned to Rome from a week-long trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

While affirming the Catholic Church’s opposition to artificial contraception, he said parents should be responsible about how many children they had, implying that natural forms of contraception, such as avoiding sex during a woman’s most fertile period, should be used.

“Some people think – excuse the expression – that to be good Catholics we must be like rabbits. “No. We need responsible parenthood, this is clear,” he said, adding that he thought three was an ideal number of children.