Must We Love Non‐Human Animals?

Drawing especially on Aquinas and Pope Francis, the paper argues that Christians are indeed called to love non‐human animals. Human love (amor) for non‐human animals follows from the Trinitarian example of divine love (amor), and includes affection, dilection, benevolence, and thus charity as friendship. Love for and fraternity with non‐human animals constitutes a necessary dimension of Christian conversion. The specific form this love takes depends on the particular natures inherent in different species. So to show love to a dog will be very different from showing love to a wolf, which is in turn very different from how one shows love to a chicken, or to a frog, and so on.