Newly elected Pope Francis is already making clear that his focus will be to embrace the disadvantaged. He chose his papal title in homage to St. Francis of Assisi, a renowned advocate for the poor and the patron saint of animals and the environment. PETA has written to His Holiness to congratulate him and to offer a couple of simple ways that he can follow in St. Francis' footsteps as a champion for animals. Because of the unholy abuse on factory farms and in slaughterhouses, we've asked Pope Francis to ensure that no factory-farmed meat, eggs, or dairy products are served at the Vatican and to offer as many meat-free meals as possible. 

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Previous popes have expressed concern for animals and their well-being. Pope John Paul II was a noted animal advocate who declared that animals are "as near to God as men are." He also maintained that animals "possess a soul and men must love and feel solidarity with our smaller brethren." Pope Francis' predecessor Pope Benedict XVI felt that "[a]nimals, too, are God's creatures. … [T]his degrading of living creatures to a commodity seems to me in fact to contradict the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible."

God clearly instructs his followers to "love one another" (John 13:34), "be merciful" (Luke 6:36), and not to harm one another (Isaiah 11:9).

Hopefully, Pope Francis will continue to guide Catholics down the compassionate path that his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, set out on so many years ago.

As Pope Benedict XVI resigns from the papacy, PETA hopes that the newly elected pope will also encourage believers to respect animals, as Benedict and his predecessor Pope John Paul II did.

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When asked about the rights of animals in a 2002 interview, the pope, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, responded, "That is a very serious question. At any rate, we can see that they are given into our care, that we cannot just do whatever we want with them. Animals, too, are God's creatures . . . Certainly, a sort of industrial use of creatures, so that geese are fed in such a way as to produce as large a liver as possible, or hens live so packed together that they become just caricatures of birds, this degrading of living creatures to a commodity seems to me in fact to contradict the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible."

You can learn more about the Bible's teachings about care and concern for animals at JesusVeg.com.

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.

In case you didn’t catch the Wall Street Journal article this morning, I wanted to tell you about a new approach we’re taking in our KFC Campaign.

Most people don’t know this, but KFC’s top executives like to boast about being good Christians. They donate large sums of money to a prominent evangelical Christian church, which one of them ran before joining KFC in 2003. That’s all well and good of course, but actions speak much louder than words, and the reality here is that the way the 850 million chickens killed each year for KFC are abused is a complete mockery of basic Christian values. It is completely unfathomable to me for people who claim such virtue to turn a blind eye to the extreme suffering that they have the power to stop.

My question to them is this: What would Jesus think of the fact that you’re not willing to even lift a finger to help the 850 million chickens killed for your restaurants, even though it is entirely within your power to do so? I’m not trying to be some Biblical scholar here, but honestly, it is just plain evil to continue to cause massive suffering when there are simple changes that can be made, and have been made by other fast food joints.

Well, if they’re not willing to listen to their own animal welfare advisors and the thousands of outraged people all over the world, maybe they’ll listen to the most powerful and influential religious figure in the world, Pope Benedict XVI, the head of the Catholic church. In case you haven’t seen it, here is a famous quote from Pope Benedict, "Animals, too, are God's creatures. ... Degrading them to a commodity seems to me in fact to contradict the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible." Sums it up pretty nicely I think.

Anyway, we’ve made leaflets with the Pope’s picture and quote, along with all the gory details of what KFC does to chickens, and we’ll be distributing them at KFCs worldwide. If you attend church, you can order a batch to share with your congregation.

Let’s hope this at least nudges KFC in the right direction . . .

There's a great interview in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution with Atlanta Hawks Guard Salim Stoudamire about why he went vegan. The interview's been doing the rounds of the basketball blogosphere, and I came across a nice little piece about it today in one of my favorite basketball blogs, True Hoop, which you can read here. In the interview, Salim talks about the health benefits he's experienced since switching to a vegan diet, but I was excited to see that he had a little shout out for the animals he's helping out with his diet too:

It's always great to see professional athletes talking about veganism, because they're great examples to point to when people have questions about whether a vegan diet is healthy. As Salim says, "My endurance has gone up, and I haven't gotten tired at all during the whole season." Which is a pretty ringing endorsement if you ask me—as is this little move he puts on the Grizzlies' Mike Miller. That's what you get when you try to take a take a vegan to the hole, Grizzlies. Salim, you're a badass.