Victoria Ryan is a writer who has done quite a bit when it comes to the critters of the world. CWG presents her op ed here on what is purported to be the latest comments by the Pope. It’s widely reported that the way his remarks on animals and heaven were quoted, were grossly inaccurate. What else is new for the media? CWG neither supports or negates her thoughts. None the less they are something to think about. Her comments are below and could wind up being a conversation starter for you!
I understand that there are two sides to the controversy surrounding Pope Francis’ comments about pets in heaven, among them ‘Can animals choose right from wrong (do they have souls)’ and ‘If animals have souls, can we eat them?’ To me, the argument compares apples and oranges: one side seeing heaven as a theological structure and the other seeing heaven as a paradise structure If I was called upon to settle the argument, I would look at both sides and say unequivocally, “Yes! Pets indeed go to heaven.” Here are some of my reasons:
1. Pets are part of creation, specifically named in Genesis as being created by God and found to be good by Him just as the sky, sea, and man were created and found to be good. Why would God throw away part of His good creation?
2.. Animals are part of the story of salvation. God saved the animals along with Noah. God used Jonah and the whale to make a point. In the end times the “lion will lie down with the lamb”and angels will ride horses to deliver the sequence of terrors. Sometimes, loving an animal puts a person on the road to loving humans. Oh, yes, it is easy to see that God has a salvation purpose, a ministry, for pets.
3. For pet owners, heaven wouldn’t be much of a paradise without their pets. Even though God’s love should be enough for us, do any of us think that we’ll be happy in heaven without our loved ones? Pets are part of our loved ones.
4. If you have never had a pet keep vigil at your bedside when you were sick, or dig up a bone and give it to you as you cried in grief, or run to get help if you couldn’t move then you may not understand that pets can and do make decisions–and they make them based on love. They have souls; the nature of which God knows. Just because we don’t know it doesn’t make it untrue.
Until one has loved an animal, part of their soul remains unawakened. Anonymous
(For more information see On the Book Shelf at Fish Sticks/www.thevictoriaryan.com)
Victoria Ryan
Writer and speaker for children and adults with current focus on Catholic fiction for adults. Fish Sticks--Catholic blog of Victoria Ryan: Significance of Catholic Baby Boomer Experience posts a new essay each Friday (like fish sticks in Lent).
Thanks for the additional information, Mary Lu.
Thank you, Victoria, for your thoughtful article on pets and heaven. We’ve had a long line of beloved Mastiffs, so I’ve often wondered about this question, too. I found the following quote from Peter Kreeft helpful:
“Are There Animals in Heaven?
The simplest answer is: Why not? How irrational is the prejudice that would allow plants (green fields and flowers) but not animals into Heaven! How much more reasonable is C.S. Lewis’ speculation that we will be “between the angels who are our elder brothers and the beasts who are our jesters, servants and playfellows.” Scripture seems to confirm this: “Thy judgments are like the great deep; man and beast thou savest, O Lord. Animals belong in the “new earth” as much as trees….”
“We were meant from the beginning to have stewardship over the animals; we have not fulfilled that divine plan yet on earth; therefore it seems likely that the right relationship with animals will be part of Heaven; proper “petship”. And what better place to begin than with already petted pets?”
–Peter Kreeft, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Heaven… But Never Dreamed of Asking!, p. 45-46
If dogs COULD go to heaven, I had a poodle who wouldn’t. She told lies! For example, she had a habit of hiding any treats until later. So she would conceal them in the room, under a pillow or chair, and lie on guard against her colleague poodle. If the other dog came into the room, she would immediately begin to act as if the treat were hidden–elsewhere! She would guard the opposite corner with enthusiasm, as her colleague searched in vain. She was completely convincing.
She was also sarcastic, deeply sarcastic. If I were even two minutes late with her walk, she would greet me with entirely exaggerated excitement, turning in circles and even –poodles do these things!–turning a backwards flip! Then she would kill the love on a dime and walk stiffly ahead of me out the door. She was letting me know the depth of her displeasure through its opposite.
And she was cranky and unforgiving! Once I had to leave her in a kennel for travel. When I came to pick her up several days later, she sat all the way on the other side of the car. At bedtime, instead of taking up her faithful little place (for she was only four pounds) beside me, she scooted so far to the other side of the bed–that she fell off! And when I howled with laughter, it made her so mad she stalked off and slept in the other room! This was a first, since she had slept with me since she was born in my hands. I didn’t know she was capable of it. (She had forgiven me by the next day.)
She lived until she was twenty one. Small dogs can do that. I do not think she had a soul, and I do not want her to be another wedge to chip away at our Faith, the rigor of our beliefs that set us apart. She was smart, heavens yes. So are worms and ants and dolphins. They reflect the beauty and order of their Creator. But human beings are incredibly special in their capacities. To elevate animals to the level of human beings is just another way to lower mankind, to remove our responsibility for sin and virtue both. To elevate animals is just one more unenunciated, unexamined, emotional assertion that everyone goes to heaven, no need for Christ, no need for baptism, no need for conversion. That is the story they are telling since Vatican II, and it’s just wrong. My little poodle served me so well on Earth, and I miss her. But I will experience the essence of her charm in her Creator, and I will not need pets then.
Janet, I love your reply–the way you wrote it and the messages it gives. Your poodle was a handful yet you write of her in a way that is respectful while being truthful. You did not call her names or belittle her. That says a lot about your good character. Nor did you abandon her in her long life–another testament to your respect of all life and dealing with the hand you are given. It reminds me that if we can be trusted in small matters, God will trust us with larger matters.
I don’t see pets in heaven as demeaning humankind or of elevating pets to humankind. God said humans were above the angels. My guess is that pets are below angels gathered together in the general “creation” category. That’s why I don’t anguish over whether a pet has a soul. Heaven–in my understanding–is about the restoration of our intimacy with God and the restoration of Eden, the paradise He first prepared for us. I think animals will be there because they are part of the creation God made just like trees and rivers and flowers. But humans, as you pointed out, are above “creations”; we are special creatures that can only be there by the choices we make.