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.