Pope Fur Petition

An animal rights group is campaigning for Pope Benedict XVI to give up wearing fur products. Among the Papal vestments are a hat and cape trimmed with the fur of an ermine, a relative of the weasel. The Italian Association for Defense of Animals and the Environment has circulated a petition urging the Pope—who is himself a cat lover—to stop wearing the garments.¹

Fast Facts

1. PETA endorsed Benedict's 2005 election as Pope²
2. Pope Benedict XVI adopted several cats when he was Cardinal, including one from the streets of Rome¹
3. The children's book Chico and Joseph is based on the relationship between Benedict and one of his cats¹

Pope Benedict on Animal Welfare

In 2002, when he was still known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict made the following statement:

• "Animals, too, are God's creatures . . . Certainly, a sort of industrial use of creatures, so that geese are fed in such a way as to produce as large a liver as possible, or hens live so packed together that they become just caricatures of birds, this degrading of living creatures to a commodity seems to me in fact to contradict the relationship of mutuality that comes across in The Bible."²

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