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The Pope's in town, and ...

Written by PETA

Posted 04-17-2008

In case you've missed the more-or-less nonstop coverage of the Pope's visit to the U.S., here are some pics from his recent appearance in DC. Some of my colleagues were on hand to remind attendees that being a good Christian means being kind to all beings. Which is a sentiment that Pope Benedict has backed up himself, speaking out very eloquently on the cruelty of factory farms.

Tags:

vegetarian, protest, huskies, of, North, White Rain Carolina, UNC, tar heels, wildcats, sparty, costa, rica, papal visit, pope

Recent Comments

Luis commented:

Apr 20, 2008 8:53 PM

how can you support the mockery of Catholics....Im catholic myself and the see such propaganda using religious wear that insulting to many people. I myself dont see anything wrong with protesting but to use preist and nun wear to do it is really sad.
kim(4-H lover) commented:

Apr 20, 2008 8:38 PM

Hey I'm a 4H memberand I go to the San Diego County Fair every year with my sheep. I love it but when PETA's crazy members come and let all the animals out...you people just cause a big mess! Besides if you PETA people are christiancatholic etc.. You are sinning everyday! Because in the bible Christ says that the only reason he made animals was for there products! furmeatmilk..etc
Ana commented:

Apr 20, 2008 2:09 PM

I am Catholic. The Pope spoke against factory farming most especilly what is done to chickens. The pope is also very fond of cats. The positives should have been used to get Catholics to show mercy and compassion for God's other creatures. I am a member of PETA but PETA's antics are starting to look really stupid and offensive. Newkirk takes the antics to an unproductive limit. The other animals are at our mercy and they need intelligent efforts to make positive changes for them. These types of stupid antics embarass serious animal advocates and do not help the wretched animals who suffer unspeakable horrors daily because of both human apathy and violence towards these creatures. Catholic Concern for Animals of which I am a board member of the USA version offers positive efforts to change the attitudes of Catholics towards the other animals. www.catholicanimals.org I am vegan Catholic and a serious animal advocate. Mark Caleb and Petergood points!!
Antigone1000 commented:

Apr 19, 2008 10:21 AM

There are plenty of Catholics who see nothing wrong with eating meat so regardless of what the Pope says I think the protest is justified. Is the Pope vegetarian btw? Alsoit seems to me that the Pope is always speaking out against stem cell research without saying anything against animal research so he doesn't seem that great of an animal advocate to me. It amazes me that some people think that religion should be treated as an impenetrable shield. Do you really believe that?? Do you think that priests should not be held accountable for child molestation because they are "religious?" That's ridiculous. Religion should be subject to scrutiny like anything else. There are way too many people who invoke religion to protect themselves from accountability. The basis of any religion is an unprovable belief. Animal abuse is provable and it's happening now. Any religion that justifies that will never be considered valid in my eyes.
lynda downie commented:

Apr 19, 2008 12:35 AM

It's about time the Pope knowing his vast influence spoke out for animals. The RC church's recognition of animals is long long overduelike 2000 yrs overdue. Everytime a poster comes here scolding us for wasting our time caring about animals I hear echoes of nuns priests and laity I knew as a former Catholic. Maybe that's what Mr. Waggy Finger's on about Pete! For the animals' sake I'm grateful for the Pope's words against factory farming. For me it's the righteous mind of Richard Dawkins and fellow atheists that have my ear.
Avatar commented:

Apr 18, 2008 5:46 PM

Ashes you are wrong! in the original hebrew text of the hebrew bible concerning the 10 commandments and killing given by moses is written 'lo tirzach' which includes every form of life! this was only changed after the distruction of the carved stones when moses wrote the 10 commandments for a second time and after that came the law and the law kills! for this reason paul told us if the law would be justice the Christ would have died for nothing!
Caleb commented:

Apr 18, 2008 2:18 PM

I'm a vegan and I'm Jewish but this stunt was yet another reminder of what's wrong with PETA. You had a chance to let Catholics know that their leader is against factory farming and you sqandered it with an offensive side show. You seriously need a quality control department to stop yourselves from alienating people. You should've put an ad in a Washington newspaper welcoming the pope to the U.S. and thanking him for denouncing factory farming andor as someone else suggested doing it at the event without the costumes. As far as "Thou shalt not kill" Dennis Prager told Ingrid Newkirk years ago when she was on his TV show that it's actually "Thou shalt not murder."
Kurt K commented:

Apr 18, 2008 1:03 PM

I did not know that Ashes! Good stuff!
Peter Li commented:

Apr 18, 2008 12:02 PM

This demonstration seems illadvised at best. Why stage what looks like an offensive protest when the Pope is against factory farming? The signs should've quoted the Pope or better yet thanked him for speaking out. And mocking the garb of priests and nuns at a gathering of tens of thousands of Catholics is just plain stupid. What a missed opportunity.
Ashes commented:

Apr 18, 2008 11:43 AM

FYI in the original Hebrew the verb for "kill" in thou shalt not kill meant only innocent humans. There was a separate verb for killing of animals killing in war and killing those guilty of capital crimes. Old Testament law not only didn't prohibit killing animals but actually commanded it for sacrifice and food. You can make an argument against eating meat totally apart from the Bible but if you're going to use the Bible do it accurately.

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