’Jesus’’ Message to Catholic Church: Cut Ties to Cruel Bullfights

05.07.2026

Pamplona, Spain – Today, an animal defender portraying Jesus stood before nearly one hundred bloodied “bulls” – costumed PETA supporters and members of the animal protection group AnimaNaturalis – outside Pamplona’s City Hall ahead of the Running of the Bulls at the San Fermín festival. Holding signs reading “Thou shalt not kill” and “Bullfighting is a sin,” the animal defenders called on the Catholic Church to cut ties with the cruel bullfighting industry.

Photos are available here. Credit: Esa Ennelin

A video from the action is available here.

“The bullfighting industry is exploiting the Catholic faith to legitimise cruelty—perverting Christ’s teachings of compassion. Catholic doctrine states that it is a sin to torture animals, yet tens of thousands of bulls are stabbed, tormented, and killed each year at Catholic festivals,” says PETA Executive Agent Mimi Bekhechi. “The Church must condemn this vile spectacle that makes a mockery of Christ’s message.”

In nature, bulls are calm, social individuals who love and protect their families. During the Running of the Bulls, terrified bulls are chased through Pamplona’s narrow cobblestone streets, where they risk crashing into barriers and walls, falling and breaking their legs, or colliding with one another. The same bulls are then killed in the bullring later that day – stabbed with lances and harpoon-like banderillas before a matador attempts to kill the animal by plunging a sword into his lungs or, if that fails, cutting his spinal cord with a knife. The bull may be paralysed but still conscious as his ears or tail are cut off as trophies.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that when it comes to the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, a bull is a dog is a boy. For more information, please visit PETA.org.au and follow PETA on Facebook and Instagram.

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