Turns out, Don Bluth was right all along.
Pope Francis, who continues to buck the odds and be the most endearing Pope since the invention of the caricature, appeared to suggest this week that animals can go to heaven, too.
Here’s what went down. During his weekly general audience at the Vatican, Francis was laying down some afterlife-based knowledge. Near the conclusion of his remarks, he said “Holy Scripture teaches us that the fulfillment of this wonderful design also affects everything around us.”
Italian media picked up this quote and studied it. And, in the analysis of newspaper Corriere della Sera, which is one of the biggest and most prestigious dailies in the country, Francis’ words echo something Pope Paul VI once said to console a small boy whose dog had just died: “One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all of God’s creatures.”
Francis’ words might not sound like a big deal. Especially since it would make zero sense for God to have created everything up to and including human attachment to animals, only to then turn around and keep them from His eternal afterlife paradise.
But it bucks years of Catholic implication and outright teaching. Which, let’s not forget, is something Francis seems to enjoy doing.
According to Vatican Radio, the Pope’s exact words were these:
It’s lovely to think of this, to think we will find ourselves up there. All of us in heaven. It’s good, it gives strength to our soul….At the same time, the Holy Scripture teaches us that the fulfillment of this wonderful design also affects everything around us, and that came out of the thought and the heart of God.
So: What do you, the viewers at home, think? Do Pope Francis’ words change anything? Have you always believed that animals came along to heaven with us? Or is this all nonsense, since it’s the Flying Spaghetti Monster we should be worshiping?
If nothing else, the owner of a certain North Hollywood rabbit should feel at least a smidge better.
