With the election of Pope Leo XIV, the Catholic Church can carry on Pope Francis’ legacy in a powerful way—by boldly condemning bullfighting. These sickening events are a grave violation of Christ’s mercy and compassion, and Pope Leo XIV has an obligation to God to speak out against them.
Bullfights Are Sinful
Tens of thousands of bulls are killed every year in festivals that purport to be in the name of Catholic saints and are blessed by members of the clergy who disregard the compassion the church is known for showing. The holiness of saints should never be deceptively conflated with the evil of bullfights, which are torture killings. In a bullfight, assailants on horses stab lances into the bull’s back and neck, twisting and gouging them to ensure significant blood loss. Then, other attackers plunge harpoon-tipped banderillas into his back, which disables him and racks him with severe pain whenever he turns his head, impairing his range of motion. Eventually, when the bull becomes weak from blood loss, a matador enters the ring and attempts to kill him by plunging a sword into his lungs or, if that fails, cutting his spinal cord with a knife, paralyzing him. Sometimes the helpless bull may be forced to endure additional agony as his ears, and sometimes his tail, are cut off and presented to the matador as a trophy before his body is dragged out of the arena in a barbaric ritual for which there is no redemption.
Bullfighting Has Already Been Condemned by the Vatican
Pope Francis wrote in his 2015 encyclical Laudato si’, “Every act of cruelty towards any creature is ‘contrary to human dignity.’” In the 16th century, Pope Pius V condemned bullfights, which he believed were “cruel and base spectacles of the devil and not of man.” Catholic doctrine is clear that animal abuse is never justified, including for entertainment. Yet priests are regularly seen at bullfights, blessing the fighters and sometimes even taking part in the violence. Participation by the clergy in this blood sport is a flagrant transgression of God’s expectations and sends spectators the dangerous message that He condones it.
Read PETA’s letter asking Pope Leo XIV to follow the example of Pope Francis and use his papacy for the good of bulls and all creation.
