Summary

In “The Jesuit and the Rat”, the author speaks with Rafael Tornini, the Vatican Director of Gardens and Garbage in an endeavor to inspect the papal approach to wildlife encounters and cohabitation. When they pass the Vatican open compost pile, Tornini admits that they do take action against the rats because they cause expensive damage. Later, Roach meets with Father Carlo Casalone, “a staff bioethicist at the Pontifical Academy for Life” (242). Father Carlos asserts that “Saint Francis began a new relationship between nature and humanity”, and coined the expressions “Sister Water, Brother Sun, Sister Moon” (244). He expounds that brotherhood is a complex relationship, as with human brothers, the connection can be both loving and tumultuous. As roach offers up examples of subjective morality that result in the deaths of innocent animals, Father Carlos evenly asserts that...