From 10/6/2003</h2

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An authoritative magazine published by the Jesuits has lashed out at the culture of pampered pets, saying animals have no souls or rights.

But they have our love more ardently than we could ever have for the Jesuits or their Church. Yeah, you’ll go to church and you’ll say what you have to because you think you should – but you’ll *do anything* for your pet. Ah well, not like they are really relevant.

UPDATE:

Saw this when lisa asked some questions about it…

But, it says, “the spending of money on very expensive and expressly made foods to nourish dogs and cats is completely mad and morally condemnatory”.

Such a harsh position was unlikely to go unnoticed yesterday, the feast of St Francis of Assisi, who befriended animals and fed birds.

Father Mario Canciani, who blesses pets in Santa Maria in Trastevere Church, in Rome, says the article was written in isolation from the real world.

“The average theologian is almost always solitary, and closed in his ivory tower,” he says.

=laughing my way all the way to the birdbath=