There\u2019s only one problem: apparently none of it ever happened.<\/p>\n
Yes, a version of that quotation was uttered by a pope, but it was said decades ago by Paul VI, who died in 1978. There is no evidence that Francis repeated the words during his public audience on Nov. 26, as has been widely reported, nor was there was a boy mourning his dead dog.<\/p>\n
So how could such a fable so quickly become taken as fact?<\/p>\n
Part of the answer may be the topic of the pope\u2019s talk to the crowd that day, which centered on the End Times and the transformation of all creation into a \u201cnew heaven\u201d\u009d and a \u201cnew earth.\u201d\u009d Citing St. Paul in the New Testament, Francis said that is not \u201cthe annihilation of the cosmos and of everything around us, but the bringing of all things into the fullness of being.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
The trail of digital bread crumbs then appears to lead to an Italian news report that extended Francis\u2019 discussion of a renewed creation to the question of whether animals too will go to heaven.<\/p>\n