Comments on: GM Foods: The Christian Perspective

By: Divinity Divided No More: Vatican Secretly OKs GMOs

Divinity Divided No More: Vatican Secretly OKs GMOs — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 11:49:17 +0000

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By: anthony

anthony — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 20:27:24 +0000

i think genetically food a a great solution and should continue

By: Waiting...

Waiting... — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 01:33:06 +0000

Catholic does not equal Christian! Many of us bible-believers hate this idea, but we do not get the press the Vatican does unless someone does something that gives us a black eye.

By: Pope’s Inner Circle Supportive of GMOs « GMO Journal

Pope’s Inner Circle Supportive of GMOs « GMO Journal — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:16:35 +0000

[...] Inner Circle Supportive of GMOs After writing about the Christian perspective on GMOs, I’ve received an interesting comment questioning whether the Vatican has in fact endorsed [...]

By: Deniza

Deniza — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:01:55 +0000

Thank you for your post and your interest. It is true that the Pontifical Academy of Sciences is considered an independent and influential body within the Holy See. The role of the Academy of Sciences, as discussed in a Discovery Magazine article from September 2008, is to help the Church on scientific matters and advise them on their policies. (As an interesting aside, I find it intriguing that corporate interests seep their way to influence members of the Academy but this is a story for another day).

At this time, the Pope has not officially endorsed the use of GMOs. However, based on some of the comments from Vatican – particularly those of Cardinal Martino – it cannot be said that the Vatican is entirely silent on the issue either. Over the years, Cardinal Martino made repeated statements in interviews to suggest to many that the Vatican either endorses the use of GMOs or, at a minimum, welcomes the idea of using GMOs as a way to address world hunger.

And it is also worth pointing out, that even if the Academy has independently endorsed GMOs, why hasn’t the Pope either condemned the position, questioned their acceptance, or came out and clarified the position of the Vatican on the issue if in fact it is different than that held by the Academy? Instead, the reverberations from those close to the Pope suggest an implicit (if not an actual explicit) approval of the use of GMOs.

Again, thank you for your comment. It’s a fascinating topic and I hope to do another post on Christianity and GMOs soon.

Best regards,
Deniza

By: Sean McDonagh

Sean McDonagh — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:45:34 +0000

Greetings,

My name is Fr. Sean McDonagh. I have written extensively on GM crops. A book I wrote in 2004 is entitled Patenting Life? Stop! Is Corporate Greed Forcing Us To Eat Genetically Engineered Food. In recent months my column in the Catholic newspaper called The Universe has been directed to challenging the position of the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences on GM crops.

The fact that the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences has endorsed GM crops does not mean that the Vatican has accepted that position. It hasn’t. If the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace headed by Cardinal Martino had endorsed GM crops or Pope Benedict had made a positive statement on GM crops you could then say that GMOs had been endorsed by the Holy See (Vatican) To date they haven’t.

sincerely,

sean mcdonagh