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 join them in their grief.
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.
Rochester Animal Protection Society
www.mnraps.org
THE POPE AND THE HOMELESS CATS: John Paul II Had a Dream
by
J.R. Hyland
The first time I read the account of Pope
John Paul II�s dream, the thing that surprised me most was the fact
that it was included in the book God�s Broker. Published in 1984,
the book was the result of 200 hours of conversation with the Pope.
These interviews began soon after the author, Anton Gronowicz, was
introduced to the Pope in 1979 and continued for two years, in the
Pontiff�s apartment at the Vatican.
An American citizen of
Polish descent, Gronowicz was the longtime friend of many highly
place [clergypeople]. And in the prologue to his book, he explains
how he was able to circumvent Vatican bureaucracy. �Stefan Cardinal
Wyszynski, Primate of Poland, introduced me to the Pope, acquainted
me with Vatican circles, and convinced the Holy Father that he
should bypass the Vatican Department of State and grant me private
interviews.�
Subtitled The Life of John Paul II as Told in
His Own Words, the subject matter of the book ranges from
reminiscences of the time when the Pope was known as Karol Wojtyla,
a young man living under the Nazi occupation of Poland, to his
reflections on social justice issues, theology, and church doctrine.
And in the midst of these human-centered concerns, the author
devotes four pages to a dream the Pope related to him, about a
homeless cat.
This surprising interpolation might lead to
the conclusion that the author understood the significance of the
dream: that he was sensitive to the plight of God�s other creatures
and the way they are abused. But the comments he makes as the
Pontiff relates his dream indicate he had little understanding of
the implications of what he was being told. But from the way in
which this dream preserved its vigor and immediacy so many years
later, it is obvious that it was very important to John Paul and
[that] he fully understood its implications.
In his dream,
John Paul follows a homeless mother cat who was trying to find food
and shelter for herself and her kittens. She is turned away by those
who lack nothing themselves and by men who represent the various
faces of established Christianity.
The dream took place in
1969 the night before the Pope, known then as Cardinal Karol Wojtyla,
was to visit New York City for the first time. It was late summer
and he had been touring Canada. He spoke of the beauty of its fields
and forests and how he had wished for more time to walk in woods
vibrant with color and with his �ears filled with the songs and
voices of animals.�
In the midst of this discussion of
Canada, the Pope abruptly changed the subject and said: �The night
before my departure from Canada to New York, which I had never seen,
I had a strange dream.� But his dream was not of beautiful forests,
warm with the summer sun. It was of a crowded city, frigid with the
cold of a northern winter. And although he had never been there, his
dream captured the way Manhattan looks and feels after a major
snowstorm.
�It was a terribly severe winter in New York; the
city was completely covered with snow. Inhabitants were well off and
warmly dressed and walking slowly along roads because cars, due to
mountains of snow, could not be operated. I was happy that I could
walk on top of the snow on avenues of white.
�All my
physical effort was spent on walking. To this day, pictures of huge
apartment houses on both sides of the avenue are instilled in my
mind and the doormen quickly closing and opening entrance doors as
though trying to prevent humanity and warmth from escaping.
�On top of the snow, I noticed a brown cat emerge from a side street
and walk on the snow. I looked closer and, to my surprise, saw that
this big cat was being followed by six small brown-and-white
kittens, all of them following the big brown cat in a perfect line.
The mother cat looked back from time to time to see if her babies
were there, but her main concern was to reach the entrance door. I
presumed she was trying to find warmth for herself and her children,
but as soon as she reached the door, a man in a well-pressed uniform
jumped at her with a broom and chased them away. I followed this
procession and prepared to deliver a speech to the doorman. I opened
my mouth and tried to complain, �Where is your proverbial American
generosity? Where is your American good heart and fair play? Let
them in. Let them in!!�
�I tried to speak, but the words
would not come out. Maybe I was afraid of the doorman with the
broom. I started searching my cassock pockets for a piece of bread,
found some crumbs, and put them on my palms, calling, �Kitty, kitty,
kitty.� But the words would not come from my supposedly intelligent
mouth. Instead, the wind blew the crumbs from my palm, and I said,
�What can I do? I can�t speak to the cats. I can�t speak to the
doorman. But there are many hungry birds. They might pick up the
crumbs.�
�Again, I walked after the cats, now with a pain in
my chest, feeling tremendous cold. On the left, I saw a church
building and thought, �There we will find help.� I heard singing,
and again, the idea occurred to me that it must be a Catholic
church. The music grew louder, as though trying to convince God that
they were praying to Him.
�The mother cat jumped in front of
me and climbed the stairs, followed by her kittens. I raised my head
and saw a tall Jesuit priest chasing the cats off the steps. But as
I was about to shout at the Jesuit, �I am a cardinal!� and give an
order to accept the cats, the mother cat and her offspring ran
behind the church because from there came the appetizing aroma of
food. Probably there was a kitchen there. But a second Jesuit
appeared at the kitchen door and scared the cats away. They returned
to the avenue and started walking north.
�They walked on the
same side of the avenue as the Jesuit church and I followed. Then
they reached an imposing red brick church. An Anglican bishop
appeared and said to the cats, �My dear animal children, please go
immediately to the animal shelter. There is food for you there. We
Anglican clergy donate lots of money to the animal shelter every
year at Christmastime.�
�The mother cat and her kittens
didn�t even meow. They knew the authoritative voice of the Anglican
bishop. They walked uptown and gradually the luxurious buildings
disappeared, together with the doormen, and we saw drab dilapidated
apartments.
�As they walked and the buildings grew shabbier
and dirty, a door was opened, not by a doorman but by an old
wrinkled woman in a cotton dress. [She saw the cats] and shouted,
�Oh, little mother,� and when she opened her mouth, I saw she had
few teeth. She gently ushered the mother cat and kittens inside, who
jumped happily about because the warmth of the house embraced them.�
The narrative ended as the cats found a safe haven with the
woman who had little enough, herself. When the Pope concluded his
dream, the author to whom he related it did not make any comment on
what had been said. But he did write that �I had never seen such a
sad expression on the face of this man.� Considering that this was
the same man who had related the horrors of his young manhood under
Nazi occupation, the author�s remark shows the deep impact this
dream had on the Pope.
If the Pontiff offered a commentary
on his dream, Anton Gronowicz does not share it with the reader. But
we are told that John Paul began to recite the prayer of St. Francis
of Assisi. �Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is
hatred, let me sow love ..., where there is darkness, light, and
where there is sadness, joy.
Many years after Cardinal
Wojtyla had his dream and had become Pope John Paul II, he made a
pilgrimage to Assisi, the birthplace of St. Francis. In the Message
of Reconciliation he delivered there, the Pontiff spoke of the
Saint�s love for animal, as well as human, beings. And he likened
that inclusive love to an anticipation of the Peaceable Kingdom,
envisioned by the Prophet Isaiah, a world in which all God�s
creatures will live in peace with each other.
The Pope also
said that the �solicitous care, not only toward [people] but also
toward animals and nature in general,� that St. Francis demonstrated
is �a faithful echo of the love with which God in the beginning
pronounced his �fiat,� which brought them into existence.� And, the
Pope added, �[W]e, too, are called to a similar attitude.�
Some who read these remarks are surprised to find in them such
strong support of God�s other creatures. They are surprised to hear
the Pope refer to the lives of animals as a manifestation of God�s
love: lives that deserve our �solicitous care.� But I was not
surprised. By the time I came across a copy of the message he gave
at Assisi, I had read God�s Broker and the lengthy account of the
Pope�s dream. And I knew that if John Paul II had not wanted this
very revealing dream to be published, it would never have appeared
in print.
So in spite of the policies and pronouncements of
[religious people] of the same or other persuasions, who try to
denigrate the value and the importance of the lives of God�s other
creatures, we know that John Paul II had a dream. And although
[people] of lesser vision and lesser spiritual development have
closed their hearts and their minds to the needs of other creatures,
John Paul has given witness to a need for the �solicitous care, not
only of [people], but of animals.�
In this witness, the Pope
is being true to the Gospel message in which Jesus also gave witness
to the need for the solicitous care of all beings: �I tell you,
whenever you refused to help one of these least important ones, you
refused to help me.� (Matthew 25:45 TEV)
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