Dogs Can't Go to Heaven: How Small Concessions By The Religious Community Are Exploited By the Left

From 2014 to 2016, several reports were published by outlets such as Vox and The New York Times covering an incident that had allegedly taken place in Saint Peter's Square in which Pope Francis consoled a boy grieving for his recently deceased dog by telling him that animals too can make it through the pearly gates of heaven. The description of this event paints a comforting image; Losing a pet is just plain brutal, and to have the Vicar of Christ put his hand on your shoulder and tell you that you will see your furry friend again one day must be a life-altering experience. There is a small part of this story that the media neglected to mention, however, which was the fact that the incident in question never happened, at least not in this Millenium. Pope Paul VI did allegedly say the same thing to a different distraught boy during the time he occupied the Throne of Saint Peter, but the details of that incident are somewhat murky. While the dubious nature of these reports proved to be a letdown to many people, their hopes were surprisingly vindicated when Pope Francis published his book Laudato Si’ in June of 2015. Pope Francis writes in his memoir that "Eternal life will be a shared experience of awe, in which each creature, resplendently transfigured, will take its rightful place and have something to give those poor men and women who will have been liberated once and for all...”, seemingly putting the debate over the destination of the souls of our animal companions to rest.

This rather funny little squabble concerning our pets has actually been a point of contention in Catholic theology for centuries now. In 1854, Pope Pius IX declared that animals do not, in fact, have souls or a shot at the afterlife. In 1990, Pope John Paul II seemed to reverse this decision, declaring that animals were "as near to God as men are", although the Vatican did their best to sweep this statement under the rug, for reasons which we will soon explore.

I personally hope that I get to see my golden retriever and good pal Bailey in paradise once I die (assuming I make it there, which could very well be a stretch). The function of all three levels of the afterlife as described by Dante is obviously a complete mystery to Man. Perhaps God grants us such an opportunity to see our beloved pets once we pass on, who knows. The crux of the problem is not wether or not we see our pets in the afterlife, but rather how the Catholic Church answers the question. Contrary to how the issue might seem on its face, this is a very important debate, a critical point in the history of religion, and a crucial failure on the part of the current Papacy. Despite my own hopes regarding this issue, the truth is that dogs do not have souls, and as Catholic theology stands, they cannot go to heaven. Animals are not in fact as close to God as men are, they simply cannot be. If that were true, the entire theological legacy that has remained unbroken through two Millenium of the Church's existence would be shattered. This question does not just have implications for Catholics; Any orthodox and Abrahamic faith-based organization now teeters on the edge of the same precipice which the Roman Catholic Church appears eager to leap from.

To see why this seemingly harmless comment about our furry companions is so damaging, one needs to only look to Michele Butterfield's article in Global news from January 5th titled "Pope under fire after calling people ‘selfish’ for having pets instead of kids". As the title suggests, the Pontiff landed himself in hot water when, during a speech at the Vatican, he said assertively "Today … we see a form of selfishness. We see that some people do not want to have a child. Sometimes they have one, and that’s it, but they have dogs and cats that take the place of children. This may make people laugh but it is a reality." He continued on, unaware of the internet firestorm that had already begun brewing as a result of his benign remarks; “And this denial of fatherhood or motherhood diminishes us, it takes away our humanity. And in this way civilization becomes aged and without humanity, because it loses the richness of fatherhood and motherhood. And our homeland suffers, as it does not have children...". As he concluded his address, he walked out of the room and was confronted with a negative reaction so widespread that Global News saw fit, for some reason, to write an article concerning the bland and well known Catholic views of a Pope. What Pope Francis failed to realize is that this reaction was the result of an unfortunate and fateful miscalculation he had made as soon as he ascended to the throne in 2013.

It is obvious that the Catholic Church is in dire straights, as has been for some time. Weekly Mass attendance is down by 50% or more throughout most of the Western world. Those who attend Mass weekly are almost always above the age of 60. Part of this decline in Papal influence is due to the Spotlight Revelations uncovered by the Boston Globe. When one discovers that his weekly dispenser of moral wisdom is actually involved in an international web of pedophilia as well as corrupt conspiracies to cover up instances of sexual abuse against minors, he is very likely to subsequently choose to find his spiritual sustenance elsewhere. That being said, the decline of organized faith cannot merely be chalked up to the Spotlight incidents, because it is also being experienced by other orthodox faiths in the west. People are leaving conservative Abrahamic organizations at very high rates. This is because simply put, the Left has been dealing out a string of defeats to the religious right for decades now, both in America and around the world. In 1969, Ronald Reagan (of all people) signed into law the nation's first no-fault divorce bill in the California Republic. He later stated that doing so was the greatest regret of his life, and with the stroke of his pen, one of the greatest conservative icons of all time signed a bill that for the first time in American history put the official state position of marriage in conflict with that of the Catholic Church as well as other orthodox faith organizations.

In the 70s, Roe v. Wade and later Planned Parenthood v. Casey changed the cultural landscape of America forever; since then, 60 million babies in the united states have been aborted, and in many inner cities the abortion rates sit higher than the birth rates. In the same decade, the Germans led the European assault on the pre-born, legalizing first-trimester abortions in 1973. The rest of Europe soon followed their lead. This was another major blow to the Church in the west, This time putting their teachings concerning human life and sexual morality in conflict with the official position of the liberal Western State.

The nail in the coffin of the cultural Right came in 2012. Most of Europe had already fallen victim to the persuasive campaign of LGBTQ+ influence in their cultures. The United States was the last holdout in the West. With a decision that was as airy and nonsensical as the decision written for Roe, the American supreme court unilaterally legalized same-sex marriage, apparently finding the God-given right to marry homosexually in the constitution right next to the right to get an abortion, both presumably written on the back of our foundational document in invisible ink.

After this, after all the blows the church had taken, all the ground conservatives had lost in the culture, the movement was now isolated. The church became an island in a sea of post-modernist madness. The University system had long been on the opposing side of this cultural battle; Now, the public school system fully endorsed the cultural revolutionaries. Whole generations of kids were brought up going to state schools eight hours a day and five days a week surrounded by rainbow flags and atheistic teachers who began teaching Sex Education when their students entered the 6th grade. The church remained a powerful counter tool, yet they could only teach for one hour on Sundays; kids in 2012 were now immersed in a leftist culture one hundred and eleven out of one hundred and twelve waking hours each week. Within a few years, Gay marriage was considered normal and opposition to it was considered a sign of primitive bigotry. Abortion was considered part and parcel of life in a modern country, and opposition to it indicated hatred of women and an endorsement of a dystopic societal vision such as the one from A Handmaid's Tale. Andrew Breitbart is quoted famously as saying "Politics is downstream of culture." This absolutely has truth to it. However, as Conservative Podcaster Michael Knowles frequently points out, whether you like it or not, Culture can also be downstream of Politics. So, what does all of this have to do with Pope Francis and his seemingly pleasant comment about seeing our animals again in heaven?

Organized religions that take their teachings from the bible and do not liberally interpret the Scripture like liberal justices interpret the constitution are as solid in our society as are rocks in the midst of a rolling and stormy sea. The Roman Catholic Church, for all of its billions of followers, derives its authority from one simple line in the Book of Mathew; Jesus said "Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it." The Catholic Church was designed to be such a rock, strong and unchanging in the face of the corrosive ideologies mankind has thrown against her throughout the centuries. The Catholic Church has gotten so much wrong in two thousand years that it would require a whole book to delve into fully, but that is not the point. The Catholic Church and other orthodox religions provide a beacon to lost souls; they act as a lighthouse in the harbor of God's grace, beckoning to the lost and sea weary ships of people trapped by their own vice and unable to escape from the din of the modern neo-liberal society that surrounds them. These organizations derive their power from objective truth, and from their tradition. What works for them now has worked for two thousand years, through plagues famines, world wars, and nuclear explosions. These institutions are not designed to change. Yet, lately, it would appear that cracks have been appearing in their resolve.

The Church, and organized religions more broadly, are essentially playing a game of chicken with modern society. Those who lead them know as well as the rest of us that many people in the west are exceedingly unhappy. Suicidality and depression are commonplace. Everyone knows someone who suffers from either one or the other, or both. the majority of us probably know someone who's killed themself. This is an issue that must have its roots in the spiritual realm; There is no other reason to explain such sadness in the midst of such excess. Every day we are given the opportunity to choose between thirty different dishes for lunch, forty different kinds of deodorant at the store, and fifteen different filters on Snapchat. We have apps like Tinder which can serve to fulfill our impulsive sexual appetites whenever we please, and apps like Facebook to keep in touch with any person in any place on earth as though we are together with them. Many times more people die from eating too much in the West than die from eating too little. Why are we so unhappy? Mathew 4:4 states "He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” and this of course is the truth. Man needs meaning. Without meaning, no amount of gold or sex or fame or ecstasy will be able to fill the gaping void in his heart. There is, in my opinion, a great spiritual awakening coming. The question is, how far away is it?

Churches subsist on donations. If people don't come through the doors on Sundays, they close down. It's really just simple math. Food for the priests and money for utilities, without those two things there is no way for a Parsh to operate. People aren't going to come through the doors if they aren't interested in what the priest has to say, and people will certainly not attend mass these days if the priest tells them what they least want to hear; Mostly that their undisciplined manner of living is harming society as well as their own soul, or that their dogs are going to rot in the ground and stand no chance of entering the Lord's heavenly kingdom. Why would people subject themselves to such negativity when they can skip the hour-long Sunday service and go out into a world that now exclusively accepts and projects positivity, regardless of how negatively one chooses to live their life? The answer is people don't want to, and they aren't. So, churches are being faced with a simple economic decision to make. Do I tell my flock what they need to hear, and lose my building, or what they want to hear, and lose everything else? Pastors across the country are now choosing the latter. Take a look around the center of the town you live in next time you go out; Every church you see flying a rainbow flag and displaying political banners has lost this game of chicken and capitulated to the left. When they choose comfort over truth, these churches lose their power to effectuate good on our society. They choose to keep the lights on in their building as opposed to the one illuminating their spiritual lighthouse, and the Harbor of God's grace becomes inaccessible to those who surround them.

You will notice that none of these churches that have given up on their mission are Catholic; they are mostly offshoots of Protestant sects. it remains to be seen, however, whether this is a statement of Catholic fortitude or a testament to the immense depth of catholic resources. After all, being the oldest church on earth has its perks, not the least of which being its monumental coffers. How long will it be though, until plummeting attendance begins to make a dent in the Vatican's war chest? How long until even the mighty Catholic Church is faced with the same ultimatum as the small single-congregation protestant organizations have been throughout America?

As stated previously, there are already signs of compromised structural integrity in the theological fortress that is Catholic doctrine, and the claim that pets go to heaven is the least concerning among them. Joe Biden is a public official who claims to be Catholic yet defends abortion in America, and The American Council of Bishops refuses to call him out for his state of grave sin. There is a name for this specific sin in catholicism; It's called Scandal. It is supposed to be the duty of Catholic leadership to hold those in their flock who enter public office accountable, yet American bishops fear disturbing their already dwindling congregations throughout the nation, particularly in the extremely liberal areas in the northeast who still seem to maintain the catholic tradition despite abandoning, for the most part, the tenets of the faith. The confusing messages do not end at American shores but stretch all the way to Rome. When Pope Francis was asked about gay priests early on in his tenure, he responded by saying "Who am I to judge them?". This line never fails, mostly because there is a lot of wisdom and truth contained within those five words. That being said, statements like this begin to crack open theological doors which, if allowed to swing open all the way, will allow in a gust of change that will topple the tower of Catholic theology forever. The Pope has made comments about parents "standing by" their LGBTQ children, which again sounds pleasant enough, while still towing a dangerous line that is thread precariously between Christian tolerance, and undisciplined neo-liberal acceptance.

Pope Francis has voiced consistent and clear gripes against capitalism and has spoken in the favor of socialist policies and practices, despite the several hundred years of catholic precedent which decries socialism as evil. His Holiness is most outspoken of all on his views pertaining to Climate Change, which fall in line with the starkest analyses of the global left. It would appear that the Pontiff speaks in varying levels of clarity in correlation with issues of varying levels of cultural significance. Climate Change is an issue that a vast majority of young people, even those who identify as being on the right, are shown in polling to be deeply concerned with. In addition to this, an Axios survey conducted in June of last year focussing on Americans between the ages of 18-24 found that 54% of them held negative views of capitalism. There is a reason why this progressive Pope was chosen by the college of cardinals to take the throne, and there is a reason why he sought to brand himself as the "people's Pope". The Holy See is finally feeling the heat emanating from the long line of explosive political defeats throughout the Western world. The Catholic church stands on the precipice of forever losing the torch that illuminates its lighthouse.

So, at long last, we return to the topic of pets. Compared to the other trends manifesting within the church, The Pope's writing on animals is in many ways of little concern. After all, people love animals, so much so that fake meat is becoming a legitimate replacement for main courses in households across the West as ordinary people do their best to limit the suffering endured by other creatures at their expense. The problem is, though, that animals are not spiritually worth as much as people are. What Francis said about them in Laudato Si' he probably wrote because it makes people feel good; And herein lies the problem. Maybe we will, who knows? But Theology, contrary to popular belief, is both linear and logical. Religion is not merely a tool of consolation or a fairytale that we tell children who are overly frightened of death. The claim that we will see our pets again in paradise has profound ramifications; It means that animals must have souls. If animals have souls, then they are just as valuable as people. If animals are as valuable as people, then Catholic theology is dead, and one of the two following possibilities must be true. The first is that there is not necessarily a spiritual call to have a family when one can just get a dog. No wonder the Twitter-sphere got angry with Francis a few weeks ago; In the eyes of the left, he delegitimized one version of a family consisting of two partners and a dog that must logically have just as much spiritual value as one consisting of a married couple with a son. After all, animals have souls, don't they? The other reality is that humans and animals are valued equally by God and as a result, instead of the value of animals being elevated, the value of human life is simply diluted. After all, we as a society condone raising chickens in cages that are several sizes too small before slaughtering them wholesale and frying their remains for our Popeyes sandwiches. If we can treat such a sacred creature that way, then how can it be all that bad for a woman to terminate a "clump of cells" in her uterus that will one day become a human, yet in the stage that it's killed is still non-sentient and unformed? If animals have souls, why should we discourage the depraved among us from sleeping with them?

Religious institutions such as The Church can never afford to cede an inch of ideological or theological ground to the modern left. Every time they even signal the possibility of the smallest level of capitulation, blood is in the water, and these leftist sharks will not stop until they have further chipped away at their target. The Catholic church has stood in the face of this onslaught for two thousand years in one form or another and is more than capable of weathering the post-modernist storm that it faces now. As long as it remains unwavering, the Catholic Church will remain one of the greatest hopes that the west has of reclaiming its former glory and maintaining its supremacy over the rising threats in the east. All it takes, though, is one pope to be led astray by false visions of modernization and integration with liberal society, and the entire Rock, which over two thousand years has grown into a mountain, will split asunder and come crashing back down to our fallen earth.