A kind priest has gone viral for allowing stray dogs not only to enter his church but also to take part in the holy mass in order to help them find new families and forever homes.

Father João Paulo Araujo Gomes is a one-of-a-kind priest with a big heart who went to what some people call extreme lengths to fight animal homelessness.

While most people close doors to stray dogs in an attempt to get rid of them, Father Gomes accepted them into his church, Paróquia de Sant’Ana Gravatá, where they stay during the holy mass.

According to the kind man, he brings the dogs into the church because it raises their chances of getting seen in a different light and adopted.

Not only are the strays allowed to stay in the church but they often also join the priest on the altar where he gives them a well-deserved belly rub.

“They will always be able to enter, sleep, eat, drink their water and find shelter and protection, for this house is of God and they are of God,” the Gravatá-based priest wrote on his Facebook account.

As the big-hearted man went on to explain, he houses dozens of dogs who were abandoned or neglected at a rectory to keep them away from the streets.

In addition, he often provides them with treatment, whereas he shoulders the medical expenses from his own pocket.

Fortunately, his efforts didn’t go unrecognized, and the homelessness of dogs has reduced drastically. As for the people, they now have another reason not to skip holy mass!

“I helped several dogs with serious health problems. Some of them I brought to the parish house and they were later adopted. Three of them stayed with me. Today, they are my children and sleep in my bed,” Gomes said in an interview with Bored Panda.

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