What better way to explain the existence of souls than to appeal to the greatest doctor of the Catholic Church, St. Thomas Aquinas?

I stated in my previous post that the Church has always taught that animals do not have souls - this needs clarification. If you peruse St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica you can see that the Church has dealt with this issue long ago. Aquinas teaches that only humans have IMMORTAL souls. He gives numerous references to Scripture and Tradition.

Aquinas has been called the greatest doctor of the Faith - his philosophic works were hailed by the Church and all of Western civilization. Today animal rights organizations seek to discredit Aquinas through an agenda of revisionism.

Aquinas wasn’t teaching anything new - he just knew how to present things in a manner both consistent with the teachings of the Church and which people could easily understand.

Many people make the mistake of blaming Aquinas for planting the seeds of animal cruelty. This is pretty short-sided of them. Aquinas illustrates why animals are here on Earth for our use - he never suggests that they are here for our abuse.

Let me go yet one more step forward in our discussion if you will indulge me: Salvation is a very difficult thing for us all to attain. It is referred to as "the pearl of great price" for a reason. Christ tells us that the way to Heaven is narrow, and few find it. If Heaven is so difficult for us to attain, which it must be since Jesus can’t lie, then aren’t discussions about animals or environmentalism serious distractions? What are we missing in our own spiritual lives when we focus on worldly things?