PETA files Vatican complaint against five Spanish priests

The animal rights organization PETA has filed a canonical complaint with the Vatican's Dicastery for the Clergy against five Spanish priests. The group accuses the clergymen of publicly promoting bullfighting, a practice they describe as cruel and contradictory to Christian teachings.

The 23-page complaint, submitted by Italian canon law specialist Laura Sgrò, names priests from the dioceses of Córdoba, Getafe, Madrid, and Seville. PETA alleges that the priests have glorified the practice, with some reportedly drawing blasphemous parallels between the death of the bull and the sacrifice of Christ.

While bullfighting is a deeply rooted cultural tradition in Spain, often involving religious rites, PETA is calling on the Holy See to investigate and condemn the promotion of the spectacle. The initiative seeks to force a formal stance from the Church on the relationship between religious tradition and animal welfare.