I
think many of us who were anxiously awaiting Pope Francis' encyclical
"Praise be to you: On Care for Our Common Home" at last were able to read it this morning. On the other hand, according to Laurie Goodstein of the New York
Times-"Once again industrialists, politicians, and critics are fuming, contending
that the pope should stick to religion and stop meddling in matters in which he has
no competence."
Isn't it just the other way around? Aren't these industrialists,
politicians, and critics the ones who have absolutely no competence when it comes to the really
important things in our life? So many of them have blinders on, and when this good
man is trying to remove the blinders from their eyes, they have the audacity to
call him a meddler.
If there is a criticism from me --it is that I did not see enough mention of
how badly we treat our animals. I'm glad others didn't read it as I, and Paul
Shapiro of the HSUS wrote: "The Pope weighed in on animal protection in many ways,
including tweeting that it is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or
die needlessly."
How I hope that the Chinese people in Yulin, China will have read his
teaching. How I hope for a miracle, and that this Sunday's Yulin Dog Meat Eating Festival
will not take place. Yes, it will take a miracle.
I, like hopefully many of you, signed the petition of Elisa Caracciolo
addressed to the President of China- XI Jinping. I was amazed that there were 467,689 other
signers as well. The target number was 470,000 and she came so very close to
getting it. I don't believe that I have ever before signed one with so many signatures.
In the petition she wrote that over 10,000 dogs- many of whom are just
puppies were killed at last year's summer solstice festival in Yulin, China. At her
petition site she had a picture of some dogs tethered together looking at us beseechingly -but
yes, hopelessly unless the President of China intervenes for them.
I sent my earlier post re the very cruel skinning alive of some dogs in
China for leather to the Catholic Vegetarians on Facebook. I was surprised when one
responder put the blame on this cruelty on the Chinese Communists. Sorry to say but that I was
aware of animal cruelty in China even before the Communists took over. But then I
am no authority re this history, and I hope people who are interested in this subject will
search the internet
for answers. And then of course -- it is not past history which should
concern us now but the present. Whether it is praying, signing petitions, writing letters or
e-mailing Chinese officials, let us do something if we truly care.
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