In Brazil, a priest became famous for welcoming stray dogs during his masses. The goal of his approach is to present these animals to allow them to find a family.
Father João Paulo Araujo Gomes is well known in Caruaru, but also now well beyond the limits of this city located in the state of Pernambuco (eastern Brazil). What makes this priest, serving in the local diocese since February 2013, so famous and appreciated, is his love for animals.
As Newsweek reports, the 51-year-old regularly rescues stray dogs he finds in and around his neighborhood.
We learn that João Paulo Araujo Gomes «collects dogs abandoned in the streets, feeds them, gives them a bath, then presents one of them at each mass to have it adopted».
The parishioners have therefore long been accustomed to seeing a canine alongside the priest on Sundays. Many of these quadrupeds, once neglected and left to fend for themselves, ended up finding a loving family thanks to him.
«Dozens of stray dogs» passed through the mass of Father João Paulo Araujo Gomes have been adopted.
There are many stray dogs in Brazil, and citizens are generally kind to them. According to the World Animal Protection Society, an international organization devoted to animal welfare, the canine population is estimated at 52.2 million in the country, while that of 22.1 is l order of 22.1 million. Of these animals, 30 million are strays.
