[FACT OR FAKE #85] Did Pope Francis Really Say All Dogs Go To Heaven?
Cool Pope Francis delighted millions of pet-owning faithful late last month when he allegedly told a little boy that he would be reunited with his dearly departed dog in the afterlife. But did he actually say it?
By Sadho Ram — 21 Dec 2014, 01:47 PM — Updated almost 10 years ago
Earlier in December, it was widely reported by several prominent media sites, including a front page write-up in The New York Times, that Pope Francis had said that all dogs go to heaven
In this photo provided by Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis meets members of the Italian national council for the blind and visually impaired, at the Vatican on Saturday.
Image via Washington Post via APAs The Washington Post eloquently notes, it was a heartwarming story for legions of pet owners and animal lovers around the world
Pope Francis, talking to a distraught boy whose pet had died, declared there was a place in heaven for the creatures with which we share our lives.
The comment was reported last week by news media around the world. It was veritable catnip to social media.
And not just The NYT, the alleged statement was also cited by Time and BuzzFeed, and was also tweeted over 25,000 times
So what happened? Did Pope Francis actually say what the media claimed he said? How much of this is FACT OR FAKE?
It would appear Pope Francis said a much vaguer, more mystical thing that doesn't actually mention pets (especially dogs) at all
In reality, Pope Francis simply said, "the Holy Scripture teaches us that the fulfillment of this wonderful design also affects everything around us."
washingtonpost.comThe mis-quoted remarks from Pope Francis were first reported by an Italian newspaper, then re-reported in English by The NYT
The quote was inspired by words from earlier popes, heightening the confusion. Statements that "paradise is open to all of God's creatures" and "we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ" were apparently made by Pope Paul VI, who died in 1978. He was supposedly comforting a child who had lost his dog at the time that he made those remarks.
gizmodo.com
Meanwhile, as the battle over whether dogs (and people) have souls rages on, The New York Times, which ran a story Thursday about the purported comment by Pope Francis, acknowledged its mistake, saying in a correction Friday that it had misattributed the remark by Paul to the current pope
An earlier version of this article misstated the circumstances of Pope Francis' remarks. He made them in a general audience at the Vatican, not in consoling a distraught boy whose dog had died. The article also misstated what Francis is known to have said.
nytimes.com