Blessing of Animals to Bring Protesters Against Blessing of Bullfights by Roman Catholic Church
For Immediate Release:
October 3, 2024
Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382
On the heels of protests confronting Pope Francis on his European tour and at the Vatican, churches in New Jersey are about to feel the pressure to reform. “Tell His Holiness: Bull Killing Is a Sin!” is the message PETA supporters will bring to Saturday’s Blessing of the Animals service at Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, which is being held in honor of the patron saint of animals, St. Francis of Assisi, whose feast day is October 4. Concerned animal protectors will gather outside the building to call on church leadership to pressure the pope to denounce bullfights.
“Christianity teaches us to be merciful, yet bulls endure painful torment and a violent death with the Church’s blessing,” says PETA Senior Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA is calling on Pope Francis to honor his namesake by cutting the Church’s ties to these cruel and disgusting spectacles and for priests to weigh in on the side of right.”
Where: Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, 89 Ridge St., Newark
When: Saturday, October 5, 10:30 a.m.
Why: Every year, tens of thousands of bulls are tormented, stabbed, and slaughtered in bullfighting festivals around the world, many of which are held in honor of Catholic saints. During these events, assailants on horses drive lances into a bull’s back and neck before a matador attempts to kill him by plunging a sword into his lungs or cutting his spinal cord with a knife.
Pope Francis wrote in his encyclical Laudato si’ that “every act of cruelty towards any creature is ‘contrary to human dignity,’” and as far back as the 16th century, Pope Pius V—who was later canonized—banned bullfights, which he described as “cruel and base spectacles of the devil and not of man” and contrary to “Christian piety and charity.” Paragraph #2418 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that humans should not “cause animals to suffer or die needlessly,” yet Catholic priests often officiate at religious ceremonies in bullrings and minister to bullfighters in arena chapels. Some priests even attack bulls in arenas while dressed in a cassock.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
