I wrote (TMID, 22 April) about Pope Benedict XVI’s views on animals, where I quoted him as saying, among other things, that “they are given into our care and we cannot just do whatever we want with them”, that “they are creatures of His will, creatures we must respect as companions in creation and as important elements in the creation”.

It now transpires that Pope Benedict XVI is also a cat lover who fed stray cats near a church in Camposanto Teutonico near St Peter's Basilica. According to Konrad Baumgartner, the head of the theology department at Regensburg University, Cardinal Ratzinger “went into the old cemetery behind the church. It was full of cats, and when he went out, they all ran to him. They knew him and loved him. He stood there, petting some and talking to them, for quite a long time. He visited the cats whenever he visited the church”.

Pope Benedict XVI has a lot to teach Catholic Malta about our treatment of animals. In the same period that Cardinal Ratzinger was feeding stray cats at the Vatican, in Catholic Malta, the Environmental Landscapes Consortium was collecting cats from our public gardens. No one knows whether these cats are still alive or otherwise. Last year, the government promised an investigation into the matter. The investigation did take place but was, to our knowledge, never concluded.

Now here’s my message to the government. We do have a Catholic government, don’t we? Please follow Pope Benedict XVI’s example. Ask yourself this simple question: What would Pope Benedict XVI have done?

For further information, please log on to www.animalrightsmalta.com/pope.html and www.animalrightsmalta.com/smellsfishy.html

Kenneth Cassar

Animal Rights Malta