Apply the meaning of Pope Francis’s speech to the world of cats

Pope Francis
Pope Francis. Photo by Semilla Luz. Photo editing by Michael
Two useful tags. Click either to see the articles: Toxic to cats | Dangers to cats

Pope Francis, in his first Christmas address, urged non-believers and people of other faiths to join in a global fight for peace in the world. The Syrian war is at the top of the agenda. The children being killed there kills a bit of our psyche at the same time. It is that bad. There are other areas where there is conflict. These conflicts are never justified. They are a human folly. All they achieve is destruction and pain.

Pope Francis has a very open, pure heart. It is devoid of the trappings of his position as leader of the world’s Roman Catholics. He is not puffed up. He is one of us and he applies the wonderful and underused principles of common sense and love to his objectives.

What can we learn from his thoughts and desires? How can we apply them to the world of the domestic cat, the feral and stray cat and the wild cat?

Each one of us will take their own message from his words. However, he wants to break down artificially constructed barriers (non-believers and believers, different religions) to try and achieve a better world. As stated, it sounds like common sense. It is strange that this simple concept is so hard to apply. I suppose the world is too dysfunctional.

In the cat world, there are four major areas where urgent action is needed. Each one echos the Syrian war in terms of harm, pain, madness and cruelty. They are:

  1. Declawing in the United States. This was, is and always will be unjustifiable.
  2. The mass euthanasia at shelters of unwanted cats in the world and mainly in the United States. This silent slaughter colors everything that happens in the world of cats. There is a debate about cat breeding and the keeping of wild cat species and and how they are regulated, for instance. I predict that, over the long term, there will be a gradual tightening of regulations for cat breeders and cat owners until the mass killing is stopped.
  3. The cat fur trade in China and other parts of the world (this should include wild cat species too). This is a silent war behind closed factory doors. This sick business, driven by the unknowing Western consumer who likes fur but has no idea where it comes from, causes untold pain.
  4. The gradual erosion of the habitat of most wild cat species and their exploitation. The greatest of these erosions is the destruction of virgin rainforest for paper and furniture and you name it; all products, primarily for Western human consumption. Each item of furniture or ream of paper is a nail in the coffin of a wild cat species that lives in the forest.

Everyone, cat lovers, dog lovers and people who don’t keep “pets” should come together to stop these abuses and they are abuses. People can argue until the cows come home that they are justified. We know they are not.

Note: I am an atheist but believe in the words the pope used.

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5 thoughts on “Apply the meaning of Pope Francis’s speech to the world of cats”

  1. The world can’t change while people look down on animals as lower in status and it will take a miracle for all people to treat them as equal 🙁
    Take for example food animals as they are known but they are not food because if they were then so must we be being made of meat too

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  2. Pope Francis is a very wise man and I wish everyone in this world would take notice of his words, but sadly they won’t.
    The human race has got out of hand, evil is thriving, it’s nothing less than evil when children and innocent people and animals are being killed as if each and every life isn’t precious.
    We have no right to use and abuse animals yet many people do, for example they feel that they can’t celebrate an occasion such as Christmas without the mass killing of animals and birds to eat.
    Pope Francis is not vegetarian, that doesn’t surprise me one bit, but I don’t understand how Religious people, especially leaders like he is, can eat God’s creatures knowing how many suffer in their short lives and die horribly.
    Even St Francis of Assisi wasn’t vegetarian.
    So many inconsistencies in the human race! So many hypocrites, sorry but I think we have no hope, I don’t think we ever have a chance of changing because too few of us care.
    We can only do what good we can do but it will never be enough 🙁

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  3. I am a believer that Pope Francis, as well as his predecessors, are true in heart and want only good.
    But, until mankind accepts that we do not own this planet, nothing will change. Man is the beast and believes that he must reign supreme over all! Man has deluded himself into thinking that he has “control” over all other beings.
    We have to accept that all living creatures are our equals and stop trying to make them “suitable” for us. They have the right to live, not be mutilated by us, and have a safe, natural habitat.

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      • I don’t know if anything will change. But, if I stop hoping, that means I’ve given up. Hopelessness is the worst poverty there is.
        Our planet is diseased. Man has forgotten what is really important – life. Greed and self-indulgence reigns supreme.
        There are many people who say (and, really feel) they care about animals. But, there is an unwillingness to spend the time or expend the energy to act. Until, we who care, get our act together, unify, keep screaming, and not be shut up nothing will change.

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