Animals: Tradition - Philosophy - Religion Article from All-Creatures.org

Interfaith Leaders Urge Pope to Include Kindness to Animals in October 4 Encyclical

From Interfaith Vegan Coalition
September 2023

The letter is from over 50 people and faith-based organizations who seek to improve human attitudes towards animals and nature for the benefit of all life on earth.

Captive Cow / Pope Francis...

VATICAN CITY (Sept. 21, 2023) — In Defense of Animals’ Interfaith Vegan Coalition and Plant Based Treaty sent a letter expressing their hope that Pope Francis includes compassionate treatment of animals who suffer in animal agriculture in his upcoming ecological encyclical on October 4.

The letter is from over 50 people and faith based organizations who seek to improve human attitudes towards animals and nature for the benefit of all life on Earth. They expect the follow-up to the Encyclical Laudato Si’, which already teaches humanity about the intrinsic value of all God’s creatures, to define human interaction with animals and nature as the root cause of the climate and ecological emergencies facing our world.

Pope Francis says in the Laudato Si' Encyclical, paragraph 221: "We read in the Gospel that Jesus says of the birds of the air that ‘not one of them is forgotten before God.’ How then can we possibly mistreat them or cause them harm?" Yet billions of hens are treated horrifically in factory farms each year.

The signatories caution that even if we end fossil fuel extraction today, greenhouse gas emissions from the food system alone would see global temperature rise above 1.5 C warming. Plant-based diets, which result in 75% less climate-heating food emissions, water pollution, and land use than diets which contain 3.5 ounces (100 grams) of meat per day, must form part of this new vision.

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Please read the ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE.

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