Animal rights campaigners urge Pope Francis to denounce bullfighting

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A group of animal rights activists gathered near the Vatican in Rome, Italy on Friday dressed in red capes and fake horns to urge Pope Francis to denounce what they see as the barbaric practice of bullfighting.

The corrida, in which the animal usually ends up killed by a sword thrust by a matador in shining costume, is seen by supporters as an age-old tradition to be preserved, but condemned by critics as a cruel ritual.

"Catholic Church: Silence is Violence! Denounce bullfighting," read a banner held up by the activists near the ancient Roman Castel Sant'Angelo fortress on the banks of the River Tiber, in view of St Peter's Basilica.

PETA activists protest against bullfighting in Rome. /Antonio Denti/Reuters

Since bullfighting events "are often held in honor of Catholic saints or during holy Christian celebrations, the Catholic Church can and must help end this abuse by publicly condemning bull torture in the name of religion," animal rights group PETA said in a statement.

"We are asking the pontiff, the pope, as the representative of the Roman Catholic Church, to publicly condemn, to denounce the torture that is done on bulls in the corrida," said Patrizia Re, a spokesperson for PETA Italy.

The Vatican's press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In 1567, Pope Pius V did outlaw bullfighting, calling the practice "alien from Christian piety and charity" and "better suited to demons rather than men", but his ban eventually lapsed.