{"id":771571,"date":"2023-02-13T09:06:56","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T14:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=771571"},"modified":"2023-02-13T09:36:12","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T14:36:12","slug":"animal-rights-group-blasts-pope-francis-for-circus-outing-with-elephants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=771571","title":{"rendered":"ST. FRANCIS HE IS NOT: Animal rights group blasts Pope Francis for circus outing with animal performances"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Pope Francis has put love for animals in opposition to love for children, as if love were something limited. He affirmed that facing an injured animal, one feels pity, not mercy. This is a pope not exactly on the side of the animals. Those who feel that life is sacred love all life, beyond species.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

CRUX:<\/strong> As the saying goes, \u201cno good deed goes unpunished.\u201d It\u2019s a sentiment with which Pope Francis and his top official for charitable activity, Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, may have a special sensitivity right now.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thinking he was doing something nice for the poor, Krajewski took them to the circus over the weekend and now finds himself facing a protest from an animal rights group, which believes such spectacles amount to human beings subjecting animals to \u201cpainful constraints\u201d for our own amusement.<\/em><\/p>\n

On Saturday, Krajewski organized an outing for more than 200 poor and marginalized persons at Rome, taking them to a performance of the Rony Roller circus, a famed spectacle in the Eternal City that features musical performances, clowns, trapeze artists, animal tamers, and jugglers. The invitation was extended in the name of Pope Francis…<\/em><\/p>\n

During Saturday\u2019s performance, one highlight came when Krajewski volunteered to stretch out on a stage and allow an elephant to climb over him, the idea being to demonstrate how well-trained the massive pachyderm actually is…<\/em><\/p>\n

Less than 24 hours afterwards, Francis and Krajewski found themselves facing a complaint from the \u201cInternational Organization for the Protection of Animals,\u201d a non-governmental organization founded in Italy in 1981 which has long objected to the use of animals in circus performances.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry that the pope somehow is sponsoring a circus with animals,\u201d said Massimo Comparotto, the organization\u2019s president, in a statement on Sunday. \u201cThe pontiff often has expressed the importance of a greater respect for nature, above all in the encyclical Laudato si\u2019 of 2015,\u201d Comparotto said. \u201cThis choice seems contradictory to his so-called \u2018ecological magisterium.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBehind the exercises of the circus performances can be hidden deprivation, mistreatment and suffering for the animals, who live in captivity, behind bars, with limited space available and constantly under stress,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re animals forced into a life that\u2019s against nature,\u201d Comparotto said…<\/em><\/p>\n

At the same time, Comparotto complained that Pope Francis in the past has suggested that human life is more important than other animals. \u201cIn 2016, he affirmed that facing an injured animal, one feels pity, not mercy,\u201d Comparotto said. \u201cOften he\u2019s put love for animals in opposition to love for children, as if love were something limited, which can be exhausted.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHe receives and blesses circus performers in the Vatican who keep animals in captivity and force them into the role of clowns,\u201d Comparotto said. \u201cIn sum, this is a pope not exactly on the side of the animals.\u201d \u201cThose who feel that life is sacred love all life, beyond species,\u201d Comparotto said. <\/em>SOURCE…<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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