Bishops blast cockfighting

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops has endorsed a state senate bill that would ban cockfighting. "The [state's] bishops recognize that cockfighting is abusive of God's good creation," Allen Sanchez, conference executive director, said in a statement.

Proponents of cockfights have argued that it's part of traditional Hispanic culture, but the bishops declared, "It is not a cultural treasure."

State Senator Mary Jane Garcia, the bill's sponsor, said she was delighted with the church's position. "It seems appropriate that in a state whose patron is St. Francis, the patron saint of animals, the church should take a stance against this cruelty," she said.

Sanchez said he hopes the ban will pass, so that the legislature can address "more important" issues, including the church's call for an end to the death penalty and its opposition to Gov. Bill Richardson's proposal for stem-cell research.

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