Unexpected scene yesterday morning in St. Peter’s Square. Loredana Cannata, actress and radical activist, interrupted the audience of Pope Leo XIV by crossing the barriers in protest against bullfighting. Dressed in a t-shirt that read “Bullfighting is a sin” and equipped with a sign intended for the pontiff, the Sicilian was immediately stopped by Vatican security and the Swiss Guard.
The action, organized in collaboration with PETA, had a specific objective: to directly call on the Church to take a stand against bullfighting, still practiced in some nations, often with the blessing of local religious leaders. After the arrest, Cannata was released without consequences.
The Ragusan actress is no stranger to radical stances. Vegan, environmentalist and known to the general public for participating in The Island of the Famouswhere he refused fish even in conditions of extreme hunger, he took the opportunity of the world audience of San Pietro to relaunch the animal rights battle.
We cannot remain passive while terrified animals are tortured every year,
he told the media. A staging perfectly calibrated to make noise.
Unfortunately, bullfighting is still a reality: an archaic spectacle in which, inside an arena, a man – the matador – faces and kills a bull in conditions of clear imbalance. A practice that many now consider distant both from contemporary ethics and from the concept of respect for animals.
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