"St. Francis preaching to the birds" attributed to Giotto (1295-1300. Fresco. St. Francis, Upper Church, Assisi, Italy)
"If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men," St. Francis of Assisi said of the dark side of human nature. In celebration of today's Feast of St. Francis we offer a replay of our April 22, 2005 post "The cats are invading the Holy See":
"Every time he met a cat, he would talk to it, sometimes for a long time," said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone of Benedict XVI, reports the Daily Telegraph (special thanks to frequent commenter and catpoet Dr. Hull for the heads up):
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said the Pope's image as a German "panzerkardinal" was unfair. "He is human and he will convince you," he said. "He is both a man of science and of faith. He possesses a great sense of humanity, he loves nature and music."
The same churchman said that Cardinal Ratzinger was a cat lover. "Every time he met a cat, he would talk to it, sometimes for a long time. The cat would follow him. Once about 10 cats followed him into the Vatican, and one of the Swiss Guards intervened, saying 'Look, your eminence, the cats are invading the Holy See.'"
"He loves to debate with you, not only about theology," the bishop [of Munich] said. "He plays Mozart on the piano before he goes to bed at night."
A Google search of "joseph ratzinger loves cats" brings up our blog in the number two spot. That was before we even knew that Pope Benedict XVI is an ailurophile. Google combined two unrelated bits: "Joseph Ratzinger" in the body copy of one of our posts plus "I particularly love the cat blogs," a testimonial in our Kudos list. Is it one of those "miracles and wonders" Peggy Noonan spoke of yesterday?
Loving it, we Googled for more (see surprise results of a search for "joseph ratzinger loves cats" in caption above). From the caretaker of the pope's house in Regensburg, Germany in the NYT:
The house — built in the 1970's style on a quiet street with a walled garden -— has the feel of an oasis. A bronze sculpture of the Virgin Mary gazes over beds of roses and daffodils, while a statue of a cat stands next to a sliding-glass door. The pope, Mr. Hofbauer said, adores cats.
And from The Kansas City Star:
His most heartfelt talks may have been the ones he gave after celebrating Mass. "I went with him once," said Konrad Baumgartner, the head of the theology department at Regensburg University. "Afterwards, he 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. His love for cats is quite famous.
[His housekeeper] pointed up a staircase to a wall full of painted plates, each depicting a different cat. The brothers collected the plates together, she said.
"When we were on vacation, a cat, a little kitten, would come by, and he'd be giddy, almost giggling with joy," she said. "Cats love him; they always go to him straight away. And he loves them back."
He doesn't have a cat, however. Heindl doesn't think he can have one living in the Vatican.
He loves cats, he plays Mozart on the piano before he goes to bed at night and the dictatorial relativist Left is apoplectic. Hallelujah!
The dictatorial relativist Left represent the ignorant elites. They know more than most people they meet about the field in which they work but less of the real world than the people they deride.
Posted by: goomp | October 04, 2009 at 05:13 PM
Sissy-- FWIW, Ignatius Press has a storybook for children called Joseph and Chico: The Life of Benedict XVI as Told by a Cat-- the "author" is the Pope's pet cat Chico (with a little help from the species with opposable thumbs).
"Dear Children, here you will find a biography that is different than others because it is told by a cat and it is not every day a cat can consider the Holy Father his friend and sit down to write his life story," the Pope's personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Ganswein, says in the foreword.
The book has its own website with illustrations from the book along with photos of the real Chico (a handsome marmalade fellow) and one of the press's employees with her cat.
Perhaps Chico can learn to Twitter?
Posted by: Connecticut Yankee | October 04, 2009 at 05:47 PM
Sissy, you're more Catholic than I am! Thanks for the reminder about St. Francis of Assisi and our beloved Papa Ratzi. He doesn't seem to be in the media spotlight as much as he was a year or two ago. Although Benedict XVI celebrated an outdoor Mass before a huge crowd (150,000 people?) in the Czech Republic last week. He went there for 3 days to celebrate the fall of communism 20 years ago. Did Obama even say anything about that??
Posted by: Kelly | October 04, 2009 at 11:00 PM
I celebrated yesterday by spoiling Sam the Wonder Cat even MORE rotten than usual. That is to say, I permitted him to spend an entire afternoon on my lap! He was ecstatic. Then he did a typically Sam thing when Sis Linda came over to visit for a few minutes. He spent the entire time she was there rubbing against her ankles and purring but would not permit HER to pet HIM.
Who can figure cats?
Posted by: Gayle Miller | October 05, 2009 at 02:04 PM