![\"Pope](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.animals24-7.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picsart_25-04-21_20-45-15-241-e1745293544268.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n VATICAN CITY\u2013\u2013<\/strong>Pope Francis,\u00a0 88,\u00a0 heading the Roman Catholic Church since 2013,\u00a0 died on April 21,\u00a0 2025,\u00a0 one day after Easter and one day before Earth Day.<\/p>\n The Vatican announced that Pope Francis died from a cerebral stroke that led to a coma and irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse.<\/p>\n The Pope had been ill for some time with double pneumonia, \u00a0arterial hypertension and type II diabetes,\u00a0 but rallied to participate in Easter mass at the Vatican and to meet briefly with U.S. vice president J.D. Vance,\u00a0 who converted to Catholicism in 2019.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWhen the College of Cardinals elected Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 2013,\u201d\u00a0 remembered Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Humane Economy president Wayne Pacelle,\u00a0 a lifelong Catholic,\u00a0 \u201cthere was special excitement among animal welfare advocates.<\/p>\n \u201cAppropriately, \u00a0the pontiff chose his papal name in tribute to St. Francis of Assisi, \u00a0the patron saint of the poor as well as animals and the environment.<\/p>\n \u201cNo public declaration was more forceful or eagerly anticipated than Francis\u2019 200-page encyclical about animals and nature, \u00a0issued in June 2015,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle pronounced.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2019Our indifference or cruelty towards fellow creatures of this world sooner or later affects the treatment we mete out to other human beings,\u2019 \u00a0he wrote in Laudato Si<\/em> (Praised Be)<\/em>. \u00a0\u2018We have only one heart, \u00a0and the same wretchedness which leads us to mistreat an animal will not be long in showing itself in our relationships with other people. \u00a0Every act of cruelty towards any creature is \u2018contrary to human dignity.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Wayne Pacelle with Lily.<\/strong><\/em> Said Pacelle,\u00a0 \u201cThese were powerful, \u00a0unambiguous words from the world\u2019s most influential clerical leader, \u00a0who called on the global community to end cosmetic testing on animals, \u00a0halt the abuse of animals in agribusiness, \u00a0and end the extinction crisis. \u00a0He associated himself squarely with the idea of the humane economy and the ethical marketplace, \u00a0repeating the dictum of his predecessor, \u00a0also a friend to animals, \u00a0Pope Benedict: \u00a0\u2018Purchasing is always a moral\u2014and not simply economic\u2014act.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWe read in the Gospel,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle quoted further, \u00a0\u201cthat Jesus says of the birds of the air that \u2018not one of them is forgotten before God,\u2019 (Lk 12:6),\u201d \u00a0Pope Francis wrote. \u00a0He continued:<\/p>\n \u201c\u2019How then can we possibly mistreat them or cause them harm? \u00a0I ask all Christians to recognize and to live fully this dimension of their conversion. May the power and the light of the grace we have received also be evident in our relationship to other creatures and to the world around us. \u00a0In this way, we will help nurture that sublime fraternity with all creation which Saint Francis of Assisi so radiantly embodied.\u2019<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe Pope did not invent a Catholic Catechism on concern for other creatures,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle said.\u00a0 \u201cHe was reminding us of one implicitly already in place and underscoring its urgency and relevance to our daily lives. \u00a0Throughout the Bible, \u00a0there are calls for mercy\u2014the \u2018righteous man regardeth his beast, \u00a0but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cGod in the Old Testament,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle continued, \u00a0\u201csays quite clearly that animals belong to him, \u00a0meaning that they are not ours to abuse: \u00a0\u2018And the Lord said: \u00a0\u2018For every wild animal of the forest is mine, \u00a0the cattle on a thousand hills. \u00a0I know all the birds of the air, \u00a0and all that moves in the field is mine.\u2019\u201d (Psalm 50: 10-11)<\/p>\n \u201cOld fasting practices that are still observed, \u00a0dietary and slaughter rules, \u00a0and prayers before meals keep these principles alive with Christians while acknowledging the stain of violence against animals,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle finished.<\/p>\n Eric Mills,\u00a0 president,\u00a0 Action for Animals<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe British newspaper\u00a0The Guardian\u00a0<\/em>called Pope Francis\u2019\u00a0Enclycical on Climate Change & Inequality\u00a0<\/em>\u201cThe most astonishing and perhaps the most ambitious papal document of the past 100 years,\u201d \u00a0wrote Action for Animals founder and coordinator Eric Mills for ANIMALS 24-7<\/strong> in July 2015.<\/p>\n \u201cCertainly it may have the most to say about the human relationship toward animals,\u201d\u00a0 Mills assessed.<\/p>\n \u201cBorn Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936, \u00a0to Italian immigrant parents in Buenos Aires, \u00a0Argentina,\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Mills explained,\u00a0 \u201cPope Francis is the first Latin American and the first Jesuit to lead the Roman Catholic Church\u2013\u2013and the first non-European leader of the church in 1,200 years.\u00a0 He chose to name himself after St. Francis of Assisi, \u00a0the patron saint of animals and the environment, \u00a0and a champion of the poor and dispossessed\u2013\u2013a major boon to our movement.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPope Francis has often mistakenly been given credit for saying that dogs and cats go to heaven,\u201d\u00a0 Mills recalled.\u00a0 \u201cIn truth, \u00a0that observation came from his predecessor, \u00a0Pope Paul VI, \u00a0who once told a little boy grieving the loss of his pet that, \u00a0\u2018One day we will again see our animals in the eternity of Christ.\u00a0 Paradise is open to all God\u2019s creatures.\u2019 \u00a0But this should not have been surprising, \u00a0since the word \u2018animal\u2019 comes from the Latin word \u2018anima,\u2019 meaning \u2018soul.\u2019 \u00a0 And I am betting that Pope Francis would agree.<\/p>\n \u201cPope Francis\u2019 Encyclical on Climate Change & Inequality<\/em>\u00a0is highly readable and rife with worthwhile quotes regarding our attitudes toward animals, \u00a0the environment, \u00a0the disenfranchised and our endangered planet,\u201d\u00a0 Mills continued.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cClearly,\u00a0 the Bible has no place for a tyrannical anthropocentrism unconcerned for other creatures,\u201d\u00a0 Mills quoted.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Biblical accounts of creation invite us to see each human being as a subject who can never be reduced to the status of an object,\u201d\u00a0 Pope Francis elaborated.<\/p>\n \u201cYet it would also be mistaken to view other living beings as mere objects subjected to arbitrary human domination.\u00a0 When nature is viewed solely as a source of profit and gain, \u00a0this has serious consequences for society.\u201d<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Even before Pope Francis issued his\u00a0Encyclical on Climate Change & Inequality<\/em>,\u00a0 he came under frequent criticism from animal advocates for not taking animal advocacy farther than he did.<\/p>\n \u201cIn South Korea,\u201d\u00a0 wrote April Kim from Busan,\u00a0 South Korea to ANIMALS 24-7<\/strong> in 2014,\u00a0 \u201cnot only are many Catholic priests fans of dog meat, but they often encourage their congregations to go out and eat dog meat and even sell dog meat at their church bazaars.<\/p>\n \u201cFed up with their hypocrisy,\u201d\u00a0 April Kim continued, \u00a0\u201cmembers of several animal rights groups protested on August 18, \u00a02014 when Pope Francis came to visit Korea.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe English translation of the banner held up alongside the Papal parade route read, \u00a0\u2018Pope, priests and followers, \u00a0please put an end to the slaughter and consumption of dogs.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThis group also plans to send an official letter to the Catholic Bishop\u2019s Conference of Korea,\u201d\u00a0 April Kim said, \u00a0\u201curging them to stop eating dog meat.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether Pope Francis took any notice of either the banner or the issue is unknown.\u00a0 What is known is that there was no visible Catholic opposition to the national ban on dog meat passed 298-0 by the South Korean parliament on January 9,\u00a0 2024,\u00a0 with a three-year phase-in period.<\/p>\n [See Dog meat trade ban helps signal a new day for animals in South Korea<\/a>.]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Pope Francis on June 16,\u00a0 2016 petted both a tiger cub and a black panther cub at a jubilee for circus and traveling show people in the Vatican.<\/p>\n Reported Vatican Radio,\u00a0 \u201cFrancis thanked the traveling performers for how they opened their shows \u2018to the most needy , the poor and the homeless, \u00a0prisoners and disadvantaged children.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis too is mercy \u2014 to sow beauty and joy in a world sometimes gloomy and sad,\u201d\u00a0 Pope Francis said.<\/p>\n Activists working to abolish animal use in circuses and exotic cat breeding to serve the cub-petting industry were infuriated.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Guardian<\/em> environment editor Damian Carrington on February 6,\u00a0 2019 reported that the Blue Horizon International Foundation, \u00a0\u201cthe charitable arm of the Blue Horizon Corporation, which invests in companies producing plant-based foods and aims to \u2018accelerate the removal of animals from the global food chain,\u201d\u00a0 had offered Pope Francis $1 million to donate to the charity of his choice if he would go vegan for Lent.<\/p>\n Pope Francis apparently did not respond to the offer,\u00a0 nor could he have accepted it,\u00a0 since papal actions are not supposed to be for sale,\u00a0 despite many examples to the contrary in earlier centuries.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n On January 5,\u00a0 2022,\u00a0 Pope Francis remarked in a homily that,\u00a0 \u201cMany couples do not have children because\u00a0they do not want to, \u00a0or they have just one \u2013 but they have two dogs, \u00a0two cats,\u00a0 who take\u00a0the place of children.<\/p>\n \u201cThis may make people laugh, \u00a0but it is a reality.<\/p>\n \u201c And this denial\u00a0of fatherhood or motherhood diminishes us.\u00a0 It takes away our humanity,\u201d\u00a0 Pope Francis said\u00a0 \u201cA man or woman who\u00a0does not develop the sense of fatherhood or motherhood is lacking something, \u00a0something\u00a0fundamental, \u00a0something important.\u201d<\/p>\n This too brought a firestorm of criticism,\u00a0 including from In Defense of Animals\u2019 Interfaith Vegan Coalition.<\/p>\n What Pope Francis said,\u00a0 however\u00a0 was essentially just a restatement of passage 2418 of the 1992 update of the Catholic Catechism,\u00a0 published in English in 1994:\u00a0 \u201cIt is contrary to human dignity to subject animals to useless suffering or to sacrifice them without consideration of their lives. It is also unworthy to invest in them sums that would [be better used to ease] the misery of man.\u00a0 One may love animals; but one may not direct toward them affection which is proper only to human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The tiger and panther cub petting incident resurfaced in February 2023,\u00a0 when Catholic Concern for Animals objected to the participation of Papal Almoner Cardinal Konrad Krajewski in a performance of the Rony Roller Circus in Rome.<\/p>\n Said Catholic Concern for Animals chief executive Chris Fegan, \u00a0\u201cIt is totally unacceptable for animals to be used in circuses in the year 2023. \u00a0We believe it is also contrary to the writing of His Holiness in the Encyclical Laudato Si<\/em>, \u00a0and have written to Pope Francis to let him know our views,\u201d\u00a0 joined by the In Defense of Animals\u2019 Interfaith Vegan Coalition.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Two women representing People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on August 7, 2024. \u201cbriefly stormed Pope Francis\u2019 general audience in the Vatican in a protest against bullfighting,\u201d\u00a0 reported Christopher Lamb and Catherine Nicholls of CNN.<\/p>\n \u201cThe activists climbed over barriers from the pews into the aisle of the Vatican\u2019s Paul VI Hall,\u201d\u00a0 Lamb and Nicholls recounted.\u00a0 \u201cThey wore T-shirts that read \u2018Stop blessing corridas\u2019 and held signs reading \u2018Bullfighting is a sin.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThe women ran down the aisle, \u00a0getting within meters of the pope,\u201d\u00a0 Lamb and Nicholls continued,\u00a0 \u201cbefore security officials intervened. \u00a0The activists were then escorted from the building, still holding up their signs.<\/p>\n \u201cA similar protest by PETA took place in January 2024 during a service for Christian unity presided over by Pope Francis at the Basilica of St Paul-Outside-the-Walls in Rome,\u201d\u00a0 Lamb and Nichols said.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n While recent popes have not addressed bullfighting,\u00a0 and bullfights are often held in conjunction with Catholic religious festivals,\u00a0 Pope Pius V in 1567 issued a papal bull condemning bullfighting and other forms of animal fighting for entertainment as \u201ccruel and base spectacles of the devil,\u201d\u00a0 making bullfighting promoters subject to excommunication.<\/p>\n Pope Pius\u00a0IX reiterated the 1567 bull in 1846,\u00a0 early in his papacy, \u00a0\u00a0which ended with his death in 1878.<\/p>\n Pius XII cited the proclamations by Popes Piux V and IX in 1940, \u00a0refusing to meet with a delegation of bullfighters.<\/p>\nThough scarcely an animal rights activist.\u00a0 Pope Francis leaned farther in that direction than any Pope before him<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cChose papal name in tribute to St. Francis of Assisi\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
(Facebook photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u201cPowerful,\u00a0 unambiguous words\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThroughout the Bible there are calls for mercy\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cMost ambitious papal document of the past 100 years\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cDo animals go to heaven?\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cNo place for tyrannical anthropocentrism\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nFrequent criticism from animal advocates<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nTook case to Korean bishops<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nTiger petting<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nDid not take vegan pledge<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nRestatement of Catechism<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nCircus protest<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nBullfighting<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cCruel & base spectacles of the devil\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n