Cats' friend

“Gillibrand” at Catholic Church Conservation found this story at Bild.de:

In the New Year, Pope Benedict XVI has to cope with a number of appointments, traveling also is ahead of him and he has to write a book and two Encyclicals.

He only very rarely has time for himself. But now he has told his neighbour in the papal apartments, what he would really do, if he just dreams for a couple of moments. Then he thinks of his secret wish:

To write a book about cats.^[1]

...

Joseph Ratzinger had cats around himself for decades, as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The CDF is on the Via Aurelia, one of the most traffic-heavy streets in Rome. Daily, cats are killed or injured. Quite a few drag themselves into the garden of the CDF, where Ratzinger resided and movingly cared for them, feeding them, bandaging their wounds, watching them lie in the sun and slowly get better. And he gave names to all of them.

He wanted to write about these cats, but the election to the Papacy foiled these plans, now he has to take care of the global Church instead of the little cats at the Via Aureli.^[2]

Benedict isn’t the first Pope to love cats. This story about him reminded me of this one^[3] that “Mira d'Oubliette” posted back in 2005.


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^[1] “Gillibrand's” translation
^[2] This portion translated by “Gerald Augustinus” at The Cafeteria Is Closed.
^[3] Mira hasn’t posted since July, 2007. In the interest of preservation, I’ve reproduced her entire post below the break.

Via: Belmont Club, linked in this comment at AoSHQ

the Vatican and the cats

(post by “Mira d'Oubliette”)

While many catbloggers have noted that Pope Benedict XVI is an ailurophile, he is not the first pontiff to have an affection for cats.

Micetto, the Pope's Cat
Vicomte de Chateaubriand (1768 - 1848)

I find myself at the same time in a Monastery, a farm, an orchard, and a park. I have as a companion a fat red-grey cat with black cross stripes, born at the Vatican in the Raphael Gallery: Leo XII brought it up in the skirt of his robe, where I used to watch it with envy, when the Pontiff gave me my audience as Ambassador. On the death of the successor of St. Peter, I inherited the cat without a master, as I have told you in writing of my Roman Embassy. They called it Micetto, surnamed the Pope's Cat. In this capacity it enjoys an extreme consideration among pious souls. I strive to make it forget exile, the Sistine Chapel and the Sun of Michael Angelo's dome, on which it used to take its walks far removed from earth.

Since Benedict XVI is noted as an excellent Church historian, he undoubtedly knows of Micetto. There may yet be a Pope's Cat in the Vatican again. Micetto II perhaps?

In reading this passage, can't you just imagine an old man and his kitten, hiding in the hem of his robes when he has visitors, peeking out at them. Playing with his feet anytime he shifted them, and the consternation of the housekeepers who would have to repair the pricks of tiny claws in the papal robes. Or as an adult cat, exploring all the high places it can climb, going anywhere it pleases, an entire city to its self. Or, as Leo XII neared death, Micetto keeping him company, curled up beside him - an old man and his beloved cat.

Update 5/3/05 - Micetto, Italian for nice kitten (male). Micetta, nice kitten (female)

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 01:01:56 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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