Morrissey has signed a public letter to Pope Francis in which he begs him to condemn bullfighting for the “torture” inflicted on these animals, especially in Spain, and specifically in Pamplona, the city that hosts the San Fermín festival and which, in his words, becomes an “orgy of rape and violence fuelled by the alcohol that accompanies bullfights.”
In the letter, Morrissey indicates that in Spain, “93% of young people between 16 and 24 years of age reject bullfighting,” and warns the Pope that “if he does not condemn bullfighting, the relevance of Catholicism among young people will die from a hemorrhage just as the bulls do.”
Morrissey points out in his letter that in other parts of the world, such as Mexico or Colombia, bullfighting is on the decline or is outright banned.
In his text, Morrissey also expresses his dismay at the fact that “priests take part in bullfights dressed in cassocks” and kill bulls “in the name of saints”, and points out to Pope Francis that the name of the saint he has chosen, St. Francis of Assisi, is “patron of animals and the environment”. Morrissey argues that “you can never be a protector of animals if bullfighting and Catholicism are bedfellows”.
Morrissey is of course known for his animal rights activism dating back to the Smiths’ days: the album ‘Meat is Murder’ was released in 1985.
Morrissey has recently made headlines for revealing that he had given the green light to a Smiths reunion, but that Johnny Marr turned it down.
