The Pope was pro-animal rights.

[shockra]

http://www.peta.org

Pope John Paul II Taught Love for Animals

As Catholics around the world mourn the passing of His Holiness John Paul II, non-Catholic animal lovers remember his dream about animals.

Pope John Paul II taught love for animals more than any other pope in recent memory.

In 1990, His Holiness proclaimed that “the animals possess a soul and men must love and feel solidarity with our smaller brethren.” He went on to say that all animals are “fruit of the creative action of the Holy Spirit and merit respect” and that they are “as near to God as men are.” Animal lovers everywhere were overjoyed!

The Holy Father reminded people that all living beings, including animals, came into being because of the “breath” of God. Animals possess the divine spark of life—the living quality that is the soul—and they are not inferior beings, as factory farmers, fur farmers, and others who exploit animals for profit would have us believe.

After he became Pope John Paul II, His Holiness went to Assisi, the birthplace of St. Francis, and spoke of the saint’s love for animals. He declared, “We, too, are called to a similar attitude.”

PETA is grateful that His Holiness spoke out so beautifully for animals and their souls, and we hope that his successor will also speak out for them with the same love and compassion. Catholics can honor his teachings by incorporating compassion for animals more fully in their own lives.

Also:

THE POPE AND THE HOMELESS CATS: John Paul II Had a Dream
by J.R. Hyland

http://www.jesusveg.com/popecats.html

Okay, I don't feel so bad about him now. I did go see him when he came to Anchorage 25 years ago, even though I had the chicken pox!

[Vektor]

1. That is good to know....

...animal rights are big with me. Not that I'd ever be a one issue voter, but IF I WERE...animal rights would be it.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Dutch]

3. What a fascinating dietary rundown!

Please let us all know what you have for lunch and dinner too, because we really are just dying to know. I sure hope it's more meat- you have to be quite the Indiana Jones figure to shove a lump of dead animal down your gullet!

[RebelOne]

4. My sentiments, exactly.

Wonder how many more years before his arteries clog up from all that red meat.

[Piperay]

6. Self deleted

[Piperay]

5. Bravo to Pope John Paul

as an animal lover I am very glad to hear this.

[Dookus]

7. that's nice...

if he had lived longer, perhaps he would've realized gay people were as worthy as animals.

[xchrom]

8. lol -- indeed.

not that my furry and feathered friends don't need their rights -- but we ALL need them.

[mitchtv]

26. hahahahaha in heaven all the Poodles

and the(gay) groomers not allowed in. Don't worry with the crowd claiming tickets to heaven, I prefer the alternative

[Bryn]

13. I believe he did

love gay people. I haven't read anything mentioned about this one, but being the kind of man he was, I believe he loved gay people tho he probably didn't agree with gay marriage (like he didn't agree with condoms, birth control, women for priests, etc.)

[Dookus]

30. Yes

he loved me so much, he called my desire for equal rights part of an "idealogy of evil".

Any more love like that and I'll have to buy a gun to protect myself.

[jonnyblitz]

19. LOL

No shit..sad ain't it?

[smbolisnch]

9. That's so nice....I didn't know that.

eom

[Bryn]

10. It was posted on Pet Loss Site while back

It brought comfort to those grieving for their departed pets. I meant to look for it and post here, but you got it. Thanks so much!!

:applause:

[SiouxJ]

11. I wonder how he felt about spaying and neutering?

since, as far as I'm concerned, these things are necessary in order to reduce animal suffering. I also believe birth control reduces human suffering which I know he didn't agree with. I don't mean this as a smart-ass remark; I'm really curious to know.

As a vegetarian, I appreciate the post. Thanks!

[shockra]

15. I don't know about the Pope's views on that.

But you reminded me that recently when I was skipping past CNN I noticed the crawl at the bottom of the page mentioned Bob Barker donating $1 million to a law school for animal rights law. I was really excited!

Looking for the article a minute ago, I couldn't find the right one, because it turns out he's been doing this for a long time. He's donated funds for animal rights law, or established a fund for it at *many* universities, including Harvard Law School, UCLA, Northwestern, Columbia, Duke, and who knows where else!

Wow. I feel really good about that. Thanks for making me look it up.:)

Here's one article I found:

BOB BARKER AWARDS COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL $1 MILLION TO SUPPORT THE STUDY OF ANIMAL RIGHTS

NEW YORK, NY, December 2004 -- Bob Barker, the host of the Emmy award winning "The Price Is Right" and an animal rights activist, has made a $1 million gift to the Law School to support the study of animal rights.

Mr. Barker, who made his debut on national television as the host of the popular "Truth or Consequences," is now in his 33rd year as host of "The Price Is Right," the longest running game show in television history.

"The Law School is extremely grateful for this generous gift," said Dean David M. Schizer. "And we look forward to giving our students exposure to this growing area of legal scholarship."

Mr. Barker's support for animal rights became public during the "Fur Flap" surrounding the 1987 Miss USA Pageant, when he refused to host the event if the swimsuit contestants wore real furs. He prevailed (the contestants wore synthetic furs), but the following year he resigned as host - after 21 years - when the producers refused to remove fur coats from the prize packages. In 1987, he spearheaded the investigation of the movie Project X that led to a request by the Los Angeles Department of Animal Regulation that criminal charges be filed for animal cruelty during the production of the picture. Mr. Barker has established the DJ&T Foundation - in memory of his wife and mother - whose purpose is to help control the dog and cat population.

Mr. Barker's gift will support current initiatives into animal rights law, as well as open up possibilities in which the Law School will draw on its wealth of resources and contacts to develop future endeavors.

During the 2005-06 academic year, for example, the gift will be used to enlist the services of David Wolfson '93, a partner at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, to teach a class on animal rights. Mr. Wolfson represents, on a pro bono basis, groups such as the Humane Society of the United States and the Animal Legal Defense Fund. He also has published on animal rights law and has taught classes on the subject at several law schools.

The gift also will be used to enhance Professor Edward Lloyd's program on environmental law, which focuses in part in animals threatened by adverse changes to their environment. Students in Prof. Lloyd's Environmental Law Clinic represent local, regional, and national environmental organizations to help solve critical environmental challenges facing the New York metropolitan region.

http://www.law.columbia.edu/news_events/2004/nov/bobbarker_gift

Yey Bob! :applause: I love you.:loveya:

[SiouxJ]

16. Way to go Bob!

Welcome to DU Shockra!

You may want to check out this group (if you haven't already): http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=231

We can always use another bleeding heart ;-) .

[shockra]

21. Hey, wow.

I didn't know about that group. Thanks for the heads up!

I'm gonna have to get my DU donation in the mail so I can post there. I don't do credit cards so it may take a while.

[flvegan]

12. The Pope also believed, and stated, that animals have souls and

would also be welcomed into the kingdom of Heaven.

[Merope215]

14. Cool

I've always thought so myself, but it's always nice to have some papal backup. :D

[BiggJawn]

17. He did? When?

Granted, it's been a long time since I asked a priest about my pets going to heaven, but I was told then that no, critters don't have souls, but that doesn't mean we can be cruel to them. Same thing applied to Atheists, too.

Ah...What am I talking about? "Souls"?

Would like to know when he issued a Bull or Encyclical or whatever that granted animals souls, though...I think he may have been just expressing opinion, not creating Law.

[flvegan]

25. I have no idea what a Bull or Encyclical is, but here's a link:

http://www.dreamshore.net/rococo/pope.html

[Maru Kitteh]

28. With us slaughtering 10 BILLION animals per year

There will be lots of company. I'll finally get to live with as many animals as I'd like. Cool.

[shockra]

31. That may even be a conservative estimate.

There was a PBS special on chickens that was repeated not too long ago, and I could have sworn that they said 8 billion chickens were slaughtered each year. My eyes bugged out. That's chickens alone. Not counting all the other species. Mindboggling.

It was a good show with a lot of sweet moments though. Pro-chicken. People who had chickens for pets and people who raised them in their yard. The pet chicken listening to opera was something else. He looked almost orgasmic with pleasure. So sweet. But boy does it ever make you feel worse about what happens to most chickens.

[Maru Kitteh]

32. So many of them are capable of more than people allow themselves to know

about. All different kinds of animals. It's more convenient not to give a damn, and compassion is so expensive.

[barb162]

18. oh how sweet; I didn't know this about him. I have a soft

spot in my heart for strays and take them in or make sure I find a good home for them.

[CornField]

20. It is too bad he didn't seem to hold as high of an appreciation for women

[porphyrian]

22. Mengele loved kids.

What the fuck is your point?

[Crunchy Frog]

23. That elevates my opinion of him considerably.

I'm not a Catholic, or even religious, but I admired and respected the Pope in many ways. In many other ways, I profoundly disagreed with him. Nevertheless, I feel that he had a basic decency to him, and this information helps to confirm this feeling.

A pro-life stance has greater consistency when all life is included.

[shockra]

24. Exactly.

Those are basically my feelings too.

Being a feminist, his views often didn't measure up to what I would have hoped, but I also understand that misogyny is deeply engrained in his religion, and all major religions (which is one reason why I've made so many anti-religion posts around here). But from reading a lot of feminist works on religion by Mary Daly, Barbara Walker, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Rosemary Ruther, etc. I realize how foundational that misogyny is and how it isn't so much a reflection of the kind of person that he was, but the religion that he's been steeped in. It would take a whole lot of work to realize that disturbing of a truth, and in his position it would be blasphemy to be pro-feminist.

I count homosexual rights under the feminist label too, because I've read a few great lesbian feminist writers. Patriarchal institutions in general are so homoerotic that they have a reactionary prejudice against homosexuality to try and deny that aspect in themselves.

I also wonder if his mother hadn't died when he was nine years old if he would have learned a greater appreciation for women. One thing I've learned since his death is that *every* member of his immediate family died when he was young. That to me, would be a situation where he would be likely to take on the church as a substitute family, and have deep devotion toward it based on his great emotional needs.

Edit: missing word

[Maru Kitteh]

27. I think that's very sweet

I didn't know that about him, thanks for sharing that.

[Lindacooks]

29. Kick for all the kitties.