Alligator flesh is permissible to eat on meatless Fridays, the archbishop of New Orleans has assured a conscientious parishioner, because it is “considered in the fish family”.
The website of the national bishops’ conference in the United States — where Catholics are required to abstain from meat on the Fridays of Lent — agrees.
The website says: “Abstinence laws consider that meat comes only from animals such as chickens, cows, sheep or pigs — all of which live on land….
“Fish are a different category of animal. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles (cold-blooded animals) and shellfish are permitted.”
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