Religious News of the Day: Pope Confirms That All Dogs Go to Heaven

Good news for your dearly departed Fluffy.

At a recent appearance in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis consoled a young boy whose dog had died saying: "Paradise is open to all of God's creatures."

This is contradictory to traditional Roman Catholic beliefs that animals don't have souls as well as the views of the previous pope, Pope Benedict XVI.

Benedict gave a sermon in 2008 in which he said that after an animal dies, it "just means the end of existence on earth."

The Humane Society is praising the comments, and PETA thinks this might now turn everyone into a vegan.

As an animal lover, Pope Francis (whose name comes from the patron saint of animals, St. Francis of Assisi) also received two donkeys as an early Christmas present this year.