{"id":20372,"date":"2014-12-15T06:00:32","date_gmt":"2014-12-15T11:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=20372"},"modified":"2014-12-14T20:48:58","modified_gmt":"2014-12-15T01:48:58","slug":"pope-says-animals-can-go-to-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/12\/pope-says-animals-can-go-to-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope says animals can go to heaven"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Pope Francis, comforting a boy whose dog had died, said that \u201cOne day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ.\u00a0 Paradise is open to all of God\u2019s creatures.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Arden Dier,\u00a0 Pope Francis says dogs can go to heaven<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Pope Francis continues to show he\u2019s anything but traditional. During a recent public appearance, Francis comforted a boy whose dog had died, noting, \u201cOne day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all of God\u2019s creatures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Theologians say Francis\u2014who took his papal name from the patron saint of animals, St. Francis of Assisi\u2014was only speaking conversationally.<\/p>\n

But the remark is being seen by some as a reversal of conservative Catholic theology which states that because they are soulless, animals can\u2019t go to heaven, the New York Times reports.<\/p>\n

\n

In 1990, Pope John Paul II said animals have souls, but his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, gave a 2008 sermon that seemed to say the opposite.<\/p>\n

Francis\u2019 comment has now sparked a new debate on the subject, and the Humane Society says it has been flooded with emails. If Francis does in fact believe animals have souls, \u201cthen we ought to seriously consider how we treat them,\u201d a rep says. \u201cWe have to admit that these are sentient beings, and they mean something to God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medieval theologians might say that animals have souls, in the sense of the animating form, but that they are not immortal souls.\u00a0 It could theoretically happen at the Resurrection, with God remaking everything that has died.<\/p>\n

But, granted that the pope was not speaking ex cathedra<\/em>, what do you think of this?<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pope Francis, comforting a boy whose dog had died, said that \u201cOne day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ.\u00a0 Paradise is open to all of God\u2019s creatures.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,47],"tags":[167,2481],"class_list":["post-20372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nature","category-theology","tag-animals","tag-pope-francis"],"yoast_head":"\nPope says animals can go to heaven<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pope Francis, comforting a boy whose dog had died, said that "One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ.\u00a0 Paradise is open to all\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/12\/pope-says-animals-can-go-to-heaven\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope says animals can go to heaven\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pope Francis, comforting a boy whose dog had died, said that "One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ.\u00a0 Paradise is open to all\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/12\/pope-says-animals-can-go-to-heaven\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-15T11:00:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-15T01:48:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/12\/pope-says-animals-can-go-to-heaven\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/12\/pope-says-animals-can-go-to-heaven\/\",\"name\":\"Pope says animals can go to heaven\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-15T11:00:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-15T01:48:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Pope Francis, comforting a boy whose dog had died, said that \\\"One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ.\u00a0 Paradise is open to all\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/12\/pope-says-animals-can-go-to-heaven\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/12\/pope-says-animals-can-go-to-heaven\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/12\/pope-says-animals-can-go-to-heaven\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pope says animals can go to heaven\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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