Vatican City (AFP) – Animal rights activists filed a formal complaint at the Vatican on Tuesday asking the Catholic Church to condemn five Spanish priests, whom they accuse of defending bullfighting.

First modification: 11/03/2026 - 16:29 Last modification: 11/03/2026 - 16:37

Anti-bullfighting protesters have been demanding for years that the Pope oppose bullfighting, which they consider a barbaric and archaic practice contrary to Catholic teachings.

Spain celebrates about 1,500 bullfighting festivals a year. Its defenders call it a cultural tradition.

An Italian lawyer for the animal rights organization PETA, Laura Sgro, filed the complaint with the Dicastery for the Clergy and hopes to force the Holy See to investigate the priests for their "public promotion of bullfighting."

Under canon law, the so-called "denuntiatio" formally informs a dicastery of an alleged fault.

According to Sgro, in theory the Vatican must respond, "if only to reject it."

"It is an issue on which the Church, especially the Spanish Church, has never taken a position," Sgro told AFP, adding that when Catalonia banned bullfighting in 2012, the Spanish Episcopal Conference "more or less buried" this issue.

"I think this initiative is important, beyond these five priests who have spoken out in favor, so that we can really begin to think in terms of authentic reflection on the matter," he said.

In Spain, bullfights are often held in honor of Catholic saints, including the Virgin Mary, and priests perform religious rites during bullfighting celebrations.

PETA maintains that the five Spanish priests have glorified bullfighting, "including describing this bloody spectacle as a 'symbol of Christianity' and insultingly comparing the death of the bull to the sacrifice of Christ."

"Priests who preach compassion while celebrating the torment and killing of animals for fun are contradicting the values" they represent, Mimi Bekhecki, senior vice president of PETA, said in a statement.

In 2015, Pope Francis wrote in his environmental encyclical, "Laudato Si," that the mistreatment of animals was "contrary to human dignity."

In 1567, Pope Pius V issued a papal bull, or decree, largely ignored in later centuries, prohibiting bullfighting under penalty of excommunication. He described them as "cruel and vile spectacles of the devil and not of man."

Although many countries have made bullfighting illegal, it is still authorized, with some regional prohibitions, in Ecuador, France, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Spain and Venezuela.

© 2026 AFP

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