Scott Secombe loves cats and owns three, but his favourite hasn’t been well, so he got him baptised while he was in Wauchope.
Scott, who lives in Coonamble, left two of his feline friends, Furball and Jo, back home, but brought his special one, a bi-colour Persian named Pope Francis, to visit his parents.
The cat was named Pope Francis by the vets back home. Scott isn’t a Catholic. In fact, he’s an Anglican, and he wanted to get Pope Francis baptised, hoping it would improve his health.
“He has brittle bones,” explained Scott.
“He almost died when he was 12 months old, and I though getting him baptised would help him to get better.”
So Scott dressed in a charcoal-grey, tailored suit, and had Pope Francis baptised at the Wauchope Uniting Church in Hastings Street by a lay preacher, Bronwyn Fisher.
His cat slept through most of the service on Sunday January 27.
“He’s very sensitive and fussy, but very lovable,” says Scott, who says Pope Francis has definitely perked up since his baptism.