At a time of spreading the Catholic faith among South America’s indigenous peoples and the need for new followers of the Church’s guidelines, missionaries encountered an ethical and culinary problem.
The Indians regularly consumed the meat of capybara, which, however, lived in water. The question arose whether it could therefore be considered a fish, a question that could only be answered by the head of the Church. The pope accepted the argument based on the habitat and the fishy taste of the meat, and gave permission for capybara, as a fish, to be eaten during periods of fasting.
Interestingly, the decision was never officially reversed, so it can be said that according to the official position of the Vatican, the great capybara is a species of fish.
