I have a distinct memory of the day my fourth-grade teacher, a Catholic nun, informed my classmate her canine didn’t have a soul and couldn’t go to heaven.
The little girl, whose dog died the day before, looked like she’d been slapped. Her face crumpled and she bawled with every ounce of her lung capacity. It went on for days.
Ah, the memories.
But, it turns out my teacher may have missed the memo about God’s relationship with pets.
While addressing a gathered crowd at the Vatican last month, Pope Francis announced that all dogs do, indeed, go to heaven.
In a quote translated from Italian newspaper Resapubblica, the Pope said,
Heaven is open to all creatures, and there we will be invested by the joy and love of God, without limits…
One day we will return to see our animals in the eternity of Christ.
The Dodo notes the assertion is contrary to predecessor Benedict XVI’s statement that animals exist only on Earth. Compassion for animals is a tradition stretching back to Pope John Paul II.
Pope Francis, so named in honor of the famously animal-loving St. Francis, is reportedly in the midst of writing a encyclical about the importance of environmentalism and nature.
Maybe he’ll dedicate it to a beloved pet.
Read more: http://elitedaily.com/news/world/pope-says-all-animals-go-heaven/876966/
Animal Lovers, Rejoice! Pope Francis Says All Animals Go To Heaven
animals, Catholicism, heaven, pets, pope, St. Francis
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