The world mourns Pope Francis, a good, loving man who brought the Holy Mother Church back to the people and made his native Argentina proud.
Francis was a welcome change after the orthodoxy and rigidity of former Pope Benedict XVI who sent an icy chill through Catholicism. Francis did a lot to soften the image of Catholicism despite the many sexual and financial scandals that beset the church.
For me, a non-Catholic, the most important thing about the late pope, born Jose Bergoglio in Argentina, was his choice of papal name: Francisco in the Latin tongues.
He modeled himself after Saint Francis of Assisi, born in 1182, one of the most important and majestic figures in Catholic history. St. Francis was among the first spiritual leaders to call for the protection of the environment and humane treatment of and respect for all animals. The Franciscan Order was created in tribute to his teachings. St. Francis’ famous prayer for peace:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
He was particularly caring about two of the world’s most persecuted groups, Palestinians and animals. In a meat-eating world, the pope had to be cautious about how he spoke of animals, but his concern over the routine abuse and cruelty they routinely suffered everywhere was plain, if sometimes too gently stated, particularly in meat-mad Argentina.
Pope Francis called a tiny Palestinian Christian enclave in Gaza almost every night to check on their well-being and to offer them a scrap of comfort. One wishes he had been more vocal in denouncing the massacres in Gaza. However powerful the pope, he had to be thoughtful of the political and financial storm that any criticism of the United States and Israel would produce.
“How many divisions does the pope have?” mocked Stalin when warned of the Vatican’s reactions to his persecution of Catholics, Ukrainians and Baltic peoples.
None to be sure, but the great Polish warrior Pope, John Paul II, did much to undermine the hateful Soviet Union and free Poland from its claws. The non-political Pope Francis did not move with such panache, but his influence was still important and worldwide.
Despite ululating about how wonderful and merciful we are, we still murder tens of millions of animals daily, often in the most brutal manner. Baby male chicks are dumped into industrial grinders. Their fault: not producing eggs. Little sheep have their throats cut in April supposedly to please a Muslim, Christian and Jewish god. Millions of cows are ground up into burgers to feed our carnivorous youth.
Some 206 million chickens are killed daily in North America and 4 million little pigs. Millions of ducks are killed for food, 1.7 million rabbits. At least 5 billion animals are killed every day for food in hideous death factories we call “meat packers”. As has often been said, if they had glass walls we would stop eating live animals.
Midwestern Republicans laud the industrial meat business. They think murdering baby animals is somehow righteous and godly.
I’ve gone to the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi to pay my respects and pray for the souls of all our murdered animals. I pray we may one day learn to treat our animal cousins with humanity and respect. A good way to start would be meat-free Mondays.
We hope the next pope will have the same humanity and love for all living creatures and our earth that good Pope Francis had.
Copyright Eric Margolis 2025