Canonical: August 2003 Archives

John Allen updates us on some recent news stories: CBS's would-be "smoking gun" document; the inter-communion abuse in Germany; the cloning debate.

Genetically Modified (GM) foods are creating a stir as advocates for feeding the hungry and the Don't Mess With Nature crowd go at it.

This article signals that the winds of change may be fluffing up some cassocks at the Vatican.

But the quotes attributed to what looks like a homily given by JPII don't specifically address GM foods:

In 2000, for example, Pope John Paul II, speaking at a special Vatican mass dedicated to agriculture, called on farmers to "resist the temptation of high productivity and profit that work to the detriment of the respect of nature," adding that "when (farmers) forget this basic principle and become tyrants of the earth rather than its custodians ... sooner or later the earth rebels."

This could easily have been referring to farming practices that have nothing to do with genetic modification.

The best quote from the article:
It's "easy to say no to GM food if your stomach is full."
That from Monsignor Velasio De Paolis, professor of canon law at the Pontifical Urban University.

O'Reilly would admire its pithiness.

And here's the snarky last paragraph that seems to have at least some truth:

Although views from the Vatican usually do not have an impact on policy in developed countries, it's opinions are thought to be taken into serious consideration when laws are developed in Catholic parts of the developing world, such as South and Central America, and parts of Africa and southeast Asia.

A number of you have asked what happened to the Catholic march John Pacheco was attempting to organize in Canada with regards to the legalization of so-called same-sex marriage. It is still on, but has subsequently merged with an ecumenical effort being put together by Canadians Against Same Sex Marriage. Please note the new URL.