I prefer not to eat meat for that very reason. Much as my husband and I agree that animals are precious and we wouldn't want to hurt them, 'woman needs man and man must have his …' meat. We compromise by not eating creatures with hooves.
Pope Francis, during a weekly general audience at the Vatican last month, spoke of the afterlife. He appeared to suggest that animals could go to heaven with this casual remark: “Holy Scripture teaches us that the fulfillment of this wonderful design also affects everything around us.”
“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.”
This news was welcomed by groups like The Humane Society of the United States and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Read more at the New York Times.
Whether the pope’s remarks will influence people about their eating habits is in doubt. The beef, pork, poultry and seafood industries would suffer the backlash.
What does this dominion mean? Online dictionary says: the power or right of governing and controlling; sovereign authority.
No mention of eating there.
Almost everyone has a memory of an animal they loved. Like me, they will attest to their pet's thought process and conscience. Here's a poem I wrote a year after the death of our beloved greyhound, Tiger.
23/09/2005 ©
LIVING CREATURE
A break in the traffic sound
Sifting through silence around
The hollow echo of the past
Love of our lives, and the last.
The loss still rings in the home
And all about when we roam
The wood where we used to walk
Never was a need to talk.
In the flashes of past scenes
Perfect love, never demeaned
Dependant for every need
Demanding that you take heed.
Rest in the heat of the sun
Then a memory re-runs
Loving glance and trustful eyes
Mesmerises, makes me cry.
Living creature that he was
He had similar needs because
We shared the same world by choice
Heart twisting trust without voice.
Each room rings a different tune
Wishing I could see him soon
The loss makes me feel so small
Memory holds me enthralled.