In Landmark Case, Catholic Priests to Face Vatican Judgment Over Outrageous Pro-Bullfighting Remarks

For Immediate Release:
November 3, 2026

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Five Spanish priests caught on camera glorifying bullfighting, including describing the bloodsport as “a symbol of Christianity” and comparing the killing of the bull to the sacrifice of Christ, are now facing a landmark Vatican lawsuit that could compel the Catholic Church to confront its involvement in this cruel and highly controversial spectacle.

In the first legal action of its kind, leading Italian canon lawyer Laura Sgrò,acting for PETA UK, filed a legal case today with the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Clergy, seeking an investigation into the priests and disciplinary measures for their public promotion of bullfighting. Priests are blessing matadors and bull rings despite a decree issued by Pope St. Pius V in 1567 that imposed excommunication on clerics who participated in or attended bullfights. A PETA video exposé juxtaposes the priests’ remarks with graphic footage of bulls being wounded, staggering, and collapsing in the arena.

The lawsuit points out that publicly championing bullfighting is fundamentally incompatible with Catholic teaching. Paragraph 2418 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that it is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to “suffer or die needlessly.” It asks Church authorities to pass judgment on whether members of the clergy can publicly endorse an activity in which animals are repeatedly stabbed with barbed weapons, suffer severe blood loss and extreme trauma, and are ultimately killed for human entertainment.

“This lawsuit places the sinful glorification of bullfighting squarely before the Vatican for judgment,” says PETA UK Senior Vice President Mimi Bekhechi. “Priests who preach compassion while celebrating the torment and killing of animals for amusement are contradicting the values they are ordained to represent. The church knows that this cruelty has no rightful place alongside Christian mercy, and PETA is urging it to hold these priests accountable.”

The complaint argues that the priests may have violated multiple provisions of canon law governing clerical conduct and contends that glorifying a spectacle built on suffering and death is incompatible with a cleric’s duty to embody compassion, mercy, and respect for life.

Beyond the conduct of the five priests involved, the case could become a significant test of how the Vatican interprets longstanding Church teaching on animal suffering in the modern era.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—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 PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.