Whale Meat on Friday

The question called for a simple yes or no: Are Roman Catholics permitted to eat whale meat on fast days? No, according to the Archbishopric of Vienna; the whale is no fish but a warm-blooded mammal--hence forbidden. When the question was put to the Vatican, officials of the Holy Office deliberated long & hard. Last week came the answer: on Fridays and other abstinence days Catholics must abstain from "beasts of the fields and fowl of the air." Underwater creatures--even if they come up for air, or occasionally come ashore for a brief siesta--count as fish. Whale meat on Friday is O.K.

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