Pope Leo: Blessing Bullfights Is Another Betrayal
Sexually Abused as a Child, This Man Wants the Catholic Church to Act
As a child, Daniel Paden was sexually abused by the priest who had baptized him. Now, in a powerful video, Paden, who is PETA’s vice president of legal advocacy, is calling on Pope Leo XIV to acknowledge all forms of abuse of innocents – and sever the Catholic Church’s ties to the torture of bulls for entertainment.
“I still wonder how one who preached compassion took pleasure in cruelty,” Paden says in the video. “I see that same contradiction in priests who bless or defend bullfighting.” He adds, “Christ calls on us to protect the powerless. His Church must side with victims of abuse.” The moving spot debuted on television stations in Chicago, where Pope Leo is from, and ran in other heavily Catholic cities.
Priests Dare to Compare Bullfights to Christ’s Sacrifice
Pope Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, wrote in his encyclical Laudato si’, “Every act of cruelty towards any creature is ‘contrary to human dignity,’” and as far back as the 16th century, Pope Pius V – who has since been canonized – banned bullfights, which he described as “cruel and base spectacles of the devil.”
Shockingly, some Catholic priests officiate at religious ceremonies inside bullrings and minister to and bless bullfighters in arena chapels. Some even “fight” bulls while dressed in a cassock. Bulls are also mercilessly tormented and violently killed in festivals held “in honor of” saints. Deeply disturbing new PETA UK footage shows prominent Spanish priests defending these atrocities – even though the Catechism states that torturing animals is a sin. El Diario, one of the largest online newspapers in Spain, ran an exclusive about PETA UK’s video ahead of Pope Leo’s visit to that country. In the video, one priest claims, “It is a sacrifice, like the mass is a sacrifice – it is a sacrifice of an animal. Here it is the sacrifice of Christ.” Another priest adds, “All this idea of animalism … as if it were a person, as if it had a soul.”
Challenging Unholy Cruelty
In a letter to Pope Leo, PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk says, “The Church must choose where it stands: with the vulnerable, or with those who harm them.” She notes: “It is not uncommon for the bulls to die from drowning in their own blood. They look up at the crowd and at the matadors (murderers) who taunt them, as if pleading for mercy. But none comes. Instead, their suffering is turned into a mockery of Christ’s teachings of compassion and kindness.”
PETA supporters around the world are urging the Pope to speak out against this cruel injustice. In June, two PETA UK supporters interrupted Pope Leo’s general audience in St. Peter’s Square, calling on the pontiff to denounce the ritualized killing of bulls before being hauled away.
Italian actor Loredana Cannata was arrested at Pope Leo’s general audience in the Vatican after she jumped a barrier while holding a PETA sign and wearing a T-shirt reading, “Bullfighting Is a Sin.” PETA UK supporters were also arrested this spring for blocking the Popemobile in Monaco and again in Naples. In Valencia, PETA UK supporters dropped a massive anti-bullfighting banner from the Plaza de Toros; in Chicago, PETA blanketed the intersections and sidewalks surrounding the Holy Name Cathedral – the seat of the city’s archdiocese – with ads showing the Virgin Mary shielding a wounded bull from a matador; and more. We will keep the pressure on until the Catholic Church denounces bullfighting.
