Pamplona 2026 – “Jesus” Message to Catholic Church: Cut Ties to Cruel Bullfights
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.
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. The Church must condemn this vile spectacle that makes a mockery of Christ’s message.
hat Happens in Pamplona?
During the San Fermín festival in Pamplona, the bulls are chased through the city streets, where they risk crashing into barriers and walls, falling and breaking their legs, or colliding with each other.
Many people who attend this cruel spectacle don’t realise that the same bulls are tortured to death in the bullring later the same day.
In the bullring, men taunt and stab each bull with a lance and several harpoon-like banderillas before the matador stabs the exhausted animal with a sword. A knife is then used to cut his spinal cord.
The bull may be paralysed but still conscious as his ears or tail are cut off and presented to the matador as a trophy and his body is dragged from the arena.
Warnings to Australian Travellers
Aussies make up a disproportionately large percentage of the foreign tourists who pack in as panicked bulls slip on cobblestone streets and are forced to run uphill for almost 900 metres while being chased and poked by jeering crowds.
In addition to the cruelty to animals, the event harms human participants. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warns that taking part in the Running of the Bulls is dangerous. “Every year, people are badly injured and sometimes killed. People are also killed or badly injured jumping from fountains during the festivities in Pamplona.”
How to Help Bulls
If you are travelling to Spain, enjoy the art, beaches, breathtaking architecture and views, castles, flamenco dances, hikes, live music, parks, plazas, nightlife, soccer games, and sunsets. Go on tours, meet locals, visit museums and markets, and try vegan pinchos, tapas, sangria, and sorbet. Just remember: Cruelty is not a part of culture worth preserving.
And please sign the petition to Pope Leo XIV, the head of the Catholic Church, urging him to end the Church’s complicity in bullfighting – a blood sport that has no place in Christian celebrations.
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