To God praying and with the pike torturing

Alessandro Zara

Is bullfighting compatible with the Christian faith ? On the occasion of the ’ International Meeting of Bullfighting Priests and Chaplains,’ to be held next weekend in Zamora, we have consulted Catholic authorities and believers about this contradiction.

Bullfighting is a spectacle that inevitably involves the suffering of an animal and the exposure of human lives to risk. Christianity is a religion based on compassion and love of neighbor. Despite this, the support of the Catholic Church for bullfighting in the eight countries where it is still legal is strong and evident.

Every bullring of a certain level has a consecrated chapel, where bullfighters go before a bullfight and pray to God to help them "to kill well." The local ecclesiastical authorities bless the bullrings. Most of the bullfighters are devout, and many belong to a confraternity. The bullfighting fairs usually coincide with the festivities of Christ, Virgins, or Saints or with Holy Week.

In Spain, the most important bullfighting fair in the world is in honor of San Isidro. The most famous running of the bulls is the Sanfermines. In Mexico, the Virgin of Guadalupe is considered the "protector of bullfighters." In Spain, the Macarena is its patron saint. Both the Christ of Medinaceli in Madrid and the Jesus of the Great Power in Murcia are known as Christ of the Bullfighters. The former is carried in procession on the Friday of Sorrows by the archconfraternity of Jesus de Medinaceli (formerly called Brotherhood of the Bullfighters). He is accompanied by future promises and significant figures of bullfighting, students of bullfighting schools, the Center for Bullfighting Affairs of the Community of Madrid, the Toro de Lidia Foundation, and the José Cubero "Yiyo" Bullfighting School. Priests like Víctor Carrasco or the late Luis Fernando Valiente Clemente have fought in cassock. Luis de Lezama Barañano, priest and hotel businessman, earned the nickname of "the priest of the "maletillas" for his support to young apprentice bullfighters.

Next weekend, the I Meeting of Chaplains and Bullfighting Priests will take place in Zamora, whose Honor Committee will be chaired by the Infanta Elena de Borbón y Grecia. The Venezuelan Cardinal and Bishop of Caracas Baltazar Porras will attend it.

These are the facts, but is it coherent to be a practicing Catholic with being a bullfighting fan or professional ? We have consulted different priests, authorities, and faithful in Spain and abroad, and here I will share their opinions. As you can see, in Spain, the priests and Catholics who support bullfighting exhibit their interest without any qualms, while the others, those who oppose it from a Christian point of view, keep a modest silence.

Cardinal José Cobo Cano, jurist and archbishop of Madrid, vice-president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, considers that this matter transcends the scope of the Madrid diocese and that the Spanish Episcopal Conference could answer. The Episcopal Conference, presided by the lawyer and archbishop of Valladolid, Luis Javier Argüello García, has not responded to. It is striking that the highest religious authorities of a country with such a Catholic tradition do not feel qualified to give their opinion.

Incomprehensible is the silence of Father Angel, parish priest of the Church of San Anton, who every January 17, the day of St. Anthony Abbot, patron saint of animals, blesses all those brought to him for that purpose. Although, when he officiated a funeral mass for the last bullfighter who died in the bullring in Spain, he said of Víctor Barrio, "You have entered through the Puerta Grande del cielo," using a simile from bullfighting jargon, since the greatest honor of a bullfighter is to leave the bullring on his shoulders through the so-called Puerta Grande. The controversial nun Lucía Karam has not responded either.

The University of Comillas, created by the Society of Jesus, has not answered either. It is hard to believe that the heirs of the Jesuits, who went deep into unexplored jungles and confronted cruel pirates, do not dare to give their opinion on this subject.

Religión Digital, the most progressive Spanish Catholic portal, has in the past given space to critical voices against the torture of fighting bulls. The sadly deceased priest Antonio Aradillas, for example, in his article "The (official) Church does not want bulls", asked : "Is the bull of Pius V, with its explicit condemnation of bullfights, still in force or not ? Are bullfights "diabolical, unnatural and shameful in the eyes of God and mankind" ? Do those who - clerics or laymen - organize them and in some way participate in them, even if it is only with their presence, sin gravely or not, no matter how "beneficial" some of them proclaim to be ? What do the bishops of the diocesan boundaries in which these spectacles are celebrated think ? Can the "Christs," the "Virgins," and the saints protect bullfights with pastoral patronage...?".

Julián Moreno Mestre, for his part, in "A place where many Catholics should not be, and are," affirmed : "There are bishops (who) should be ashamed of attending bullfights, blessing these spectacles and giving them public approval... it is also incomprehensible that they talk about defending life if they then give communion and bless those who play for fun or amuse others by making an animal suffer to death".

Koldo Aldai, in "More bullfights without blood," celebrates the abolition of bullfighting in Catalonia : "A triumph of all citizens with a compassionate heart... Tomorrow, the new generations will be astonished when they see that our leisure is based on the torture and death of the animal. We want more autonomic Parliaments raising brave arms against bullfighting error, against the prehistory of preventing the suffering of the animal, and against this singular and lacerating "art" that generates incomprehensible delight. Never ever blood baths in the middle of a rejoicing bullring".

In July 1981, the magazine Interviú published a letter from Monsignor Alberto Iniesta Jiménez, "the red bishop of Vallecas," Madrid, in which he states : "I cannot imagine the Lord at the bullfight, having a pleasant time while men endanger their lives, while the poor animals are tortured to death (...) amid a passionate and sadistic public collectively, and also individually. (...) Is it possible that God created animals for this ? Can we as Christians - and even as civilized men - remain indifferent to a celebration that degrades man so much (...) because the suffering it causes is absolutely gratuitous and is not justified either by hunger or fear or any other reason ?".

Ismael López Dobarganes, Missionary of Mercy, founder of the Gaia Sanctuary, which shelters and cares for animals rescued from mistreatment and exploitation, including bulls and cows, is also known for his anti-bullfighting stance. However, the congregation to which he belongs takes a vow of silence and no longer gives interviews.

In Spain, those who speak out are still isolated cases. In other countries, the situation is different. Among believers, there are many critical voices, both from priests and militant groups organized from their faith.

Most of the world’s Catholics who condemn bullfighting allude to the papal bull De Salute Gregis Dominici, published in 1567 by Pope Pius V, which prohibits bullfights and decrees immediate excommunication against any Catholic who permits or participates in them. The course of the bull has been exhaustively studied by Luis Gilpérez Fraile in De interés para católicos taurinos and, more recently, by Raffael Nicolas Fasaer.

Robert Culat, who has already been interviewed in Nietzsche’s Horse, is one of these voices. In 2023, he signed a letter addressed to Pope Francis and an English and Canadian priest, asking for the prohibition of bullfighting. There has been no response yet. Unlike the other two, Father Culat resides in France, a country where bullfighting is legal and where the Church officially supports it. He has also participated in actions and campaigns of the Peta organization. In a recent interview, he exhaustively argues the incompatibility of bullfighting and the Christian faith : "Bullfighting is totally incompatible with the Christian faith. Point 2418 of the Catechism is explicit and admits no doubt : "It is contrary to human dignity to make animals suffer uselessly and to sacrifice their lives needlessly". If this were not enough, if they do not care about animals, the other argument that admits no doubt is that human life is needlessly endangered. It is licit to risk it, for example, to save a child about to drown, but it is not licit to face death in a bullfight. Therefore, the bullfighter is committing a mortal sin".
A parish priest in the French diocese of Copenhagen, Culat is one of the most prominent voices in the Catholic Church in favor of veganism and the defense of animals. Peta

According to Chis Fegan, executive director of Catholic Concern for Animals, bullfighting is something horrible. The vast majority of believers does not endorse it. Still, by a minimal sector : "It is said that the Catholic Church supports bullfighting. When people think of the Catholic Church, they generally think of the Vatican, Rome, and the Curia. Catholics worldwide are around 1.375 million, of which less than half a million correspond to that status. How many of these are bullfighters ? Proportionally, it is an insignificant number. It cannot be affirmed that the Christian faith tolerates bullfighting. Outside the eight countries where bullfighting is legal, it is not understandable that a Catholic can attend an event in which an animal is tortured for pleasure, and human lives are put at risk. We must be blunt about this : bullfighting is a terrible cruelty towards creatures that belong to God, and those who participate in it, be they priests or laymen, should be ashamed of themselves. It is necessary that the Vatican apply the prohibition and that governments also issue and apply laws in this sense".

Consulted by the English organization Catholic Action for Animals, a Catholic ecclesiastical authority in the United Kingdom who prefers to remain anonymous, affirms : "The papal bull against bullfighting seems to be still in force. However, the excommunication would no longer apply. My personal opinion would be that the prohibition of bullfighting remains, but no ecclesiastical sanction is incurred if the law is ignored. There are also several principles regarding the interpretation of Church laws. One is the mind of the legislator. The supreme legislator is the Pope. Therefore, any opinion he may have on the matter would be important. Another principle is that "custom is the best interpreter of the law." Thus, Spain has a long custom of allowing bullfighting. Therefore, this would detract from the actuality of the original prohibition. It is a very complicated issue. The way forward may be for the Spanish bishops, or Rome, to provide a new resolution, unlike the bull of centuries ago."

Considering the constant support for bullfighting by a sector of the Spanish Curia, and the absolute silence of the rest, the possibility of the bishops providing or requesting a new resolution condemning it seems very distant. Their practices and behaviors would be more typical of a mafia organization than a religious collective. It is striking that the Spanish Episcopal Conference has commissioned the report on sexual abuse in the Church to the same law firm that advises the Fundación del Toro de Lidia against the alleged "attacks" of the animal rights sector.

As for Pope Francis, the spokeswoman for Catholic Action for Animals considers that "the Catholic Church has to pronounce itself on the cruelty of bullfighting. In his encyclical Laudato si’, Pope Francis says that "every act of cruelty towards any creature is contrary to human dignity." Unfortunately, this message can fall into tricky territory unless the Pope and the bishops give clear guidance on what is cruel. Is it cruel to eat eggs ? Is the fur trade cruel ? Is bullfighting cruel ? The Church has chosen to ignore these questions. Even after Laudato si’, we have no specific condemnation of cruel and immoral practices that have become normalized and are part of people’s daily lives, such as the three examples above. Does something as heinous as bullfighting not demand condemnation from the Church ? In his interactions with the animal issue, the Pope has shown that he is not fully aware of the implications of treating animals with respect. He was publicly photographed with a bullfighter but has said nothing about the issue of bullfighting. It is likely that he is not well advised and is ignorant or unaware of the implications of his words and actions involving animals or that he is very naive. What cannot be stated is that Pope Francis supports bullfighting. That would go directly against his encyclical Laudato si".

Marilena Bogazzi, author of several books on veganism in the Christian sphere and president and founder of the Italian association Cattolici Vegetariani, agrees with her English and French colleagues and adds : "The passage as mentioned earlier of the Catechism clearly makes the participation in any capacity, of a Catholic in bullfights incompatible. Moreover, it seems to me appalling that anyone could find amusement or satisfaction in watching a living being suffer, be tortured, and die, and this should be a troubling indicator of the emotional and psychological state and empathy of these people. Christians should be distinguished by compassion, not cruelty. As the Catechism also says, all the direct and indirect income linked to bullfights, or other similar ones, would be much better used to do good by remedying men’s miseries".

To conclude, a Spanish person who is Catholic and anti-speciesist, who also prefers to remain anonymous, told us about her experience : "It was love of neighbor that prompted me to commit myself as a Christian to the cause of animals. I have never shared the belief in the exceptionality of the human being, or at least not in the terms in which it is used to consider our species superior to all others. Love of neighbor does not distinguish between species. Veganism is my vital commitment to the animal cause. Still, concerning the Catholic Church, since my early adolescence, I used to send letters to the Spanish bishops when the dates of the terrible bullfights approached so that they would pronounce themselves against such barbarism. In those letters, I expressed my conviction that the torture to death of a sentient being, coinciding with Catholic festivities, is a perversion of Jesus’ message of love. I never received a reply. I am still a Christian, but I have distanced myself from the Catholic Church as an institution. It took me more than twenty years to re-enter a church because I did not want to continue to belong to an institution that belittles my brothers and sisters in this way. And I have returned because I have found other believers who share my feelings, criticism, and hope".

Like this faithful, hundreds of thousands of Catholics feel alienated and forgotten by an institution that not only does not combat animal abuse and exploitation but supports and sponsors them.

Likely, bullfighting will soon be forgotten. Will it be before or after the Catholic Church stops supporting it and condemns it ? In the meantime, we must applaud the courage of Catholics who include nonhuman animals within their circle of compassion and regret that so many remain shamefully silent.