It's a Dog's Afterlife: Pope Francis Hints that Animals go to Heaven

The pontiff’s remarks were interpreted by some as bringing ‘hope of salvation … to animals and the whole of creation’

Animals, too, go to heaven. That, at least, was one interpretation of remarks made by Pope Francis in his weekly general audience in the Vatican.

The endlessly controversial 77-year-old pontiff said: “The holy scripture teaches us that the fulfilment of this wonderful design also affects everything around us.”

The pope went on to quote from St Paul, St Peter and the Book of Revelation in support of the view that “what lies ahead … is therefore a new creation”.

He added: “It is not an annihilation of the universe and all that surrounds us. Rather it brings everything to its fullness of being, truth and beauty.”

Italian daily Corriere della Sera was in no doubt about his meaning. “It broadens the hope of salvation and eschatological beatitude to animals and the whole of creation,” wrote the paper’s Vatican specialist in an article published on Thursday. 

Others were not convinced.

“We all say that there will be a continuity between this world and the joyful one of the future, [but also] a transformation,” said Gianni Colzani, an emeritus professor of theology at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome.

“It is the balance between the two things that we are not in a position to determine. For that reason, I think we shouldn’t make [Pope Francis] say more than he says.”

Though a noted cat-lover, Francis’s predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, seemed to close the doors of heaven firmly to pets and other animals in a sermon he gave in 2008. “For other creatures, who are not called to eternity, death just means the end of existence on Earth,” he said.

Certainly, the Catholic catechism holds out little hope for the animal kingdom in the next life – and not much for it in this life either. The keynote is the absolute primacy of mankind as the species which, according to Christian doctrine, was created in God’s image.

“Animals, like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of past, present, and future humanity,” it says, while cautioning that “animals are God’s creatures”, and therefore “men owe them kindness”.

Man Chooses Homelessness Rather Than Abandon Pit Bull

Dave is a homeless man living by the side of some railroad tracks in Linden, New Jersey.  He cannot find a proper place to live because of his dog Petey, who is a pit bull.  Dave says Petey is his son, and he’d rather be homeless than give him up.

Dave has been out on the streets for a long time.  People remember seeing Dave pushing Petey in a cart when he was only a puppy, and he is two now.

To read more on this story, click here: Man Chooses Homelessness Rather Than Abandon Pit Bull 

Guinness World Record Holder - Beloved Two-Faced Cat Dies of Cancer at Age 15

A cat named Frank and Louie who was born with two faces, two mouths, two noses and three blue eyes has died at the age of 15.

The Telegram of Worcester reports that 'Frankenlouie' died Thursday at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in North Grafton.

The cat's owner, Marty Stevens, said veterinarians believe the cause of death was cancer.

The cat's owner, Marty Stevens, said veterinarians believe the cause of death was cancer.
Frank and Louie made it into the 2012 edition of Guinness World Records as the longest-surviving member of a group known as Janus cats, named for a Roman god with two faces.

Janus cats almost never survive, and most have congenital defects.
They usually only live a few days.

A breeder brought the rare feline to Stevens, a vet nurse, to be euthanized in September of 1999.

However Stevens, not believing the cat would survive, decided to take him home with her and care for him.

She fed Frankenlouie using tubes in both mouths, soon realizing that only the 'Frank' side was connected to his esophagus.

He did, however, eat enough for two.

Stevens said her cat quickly developed a strong personality and loved to walk around her neighborhood in North Grafton.

"He’s just so affectionate and sweet he usually wins people over," she told The Telegram-Gazette in 2011.

He functioned as a regular cat.

While blind in his center eye, both his outer eyes worked fine, and while he had two noses and mouths, he had only one brain.

Stevens is now understandably devastated to lose her pet of 15 years.

She said her fell quite ill around Thanksgiving and she took him to the Tuffs University clinic.

The vet told her it was best to euthanize him, because he was in quite a lot of pain.

Stevens says once her sadness passes she wouldn't mind looking for another Janus to bring home with her, just like she did with Frankenlouie in 1999.

"I would love to do it again," she said.

You Can Help Animals at Christmas with Just a Facebook "Like" - Coolridge Animal Hospital Will Donate a 1-Pound Bag of Dog/Cat Food to an Animal Rescue for Each "Like" - Only 51 More Needed!

Help us reach 500 Facebook likes by end of 2014, we need 51. for every new like we receive from now till 12/31/2014, we are donating 1lb of dog/cat food for every like we receive to a Animal Allies Rescue Organization.

Help us reach our goal and we will help pets in need .... Share our page to help us reach this goal

Think about it…that's 51 pounds of dog food!

Ready to "like" and help pets in need? Click HERE! 

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