Say no to ivory, Philippine clergy told

The head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines has issued a directive to the country's bishops and clergy to stop using new statues and images made of ivory as objects of veneration in churches.

Nov 05, 2015

MANILA: The head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines has issued a directive to the country's bishops and clergy to stop using new statues and images made of ivory as objects of veneration in churches.

Priests are also prohibited from blessing any new statue, image or object of devotion made or crafted from ivory or body parts of endangered or protected wildlife.

"No matter the beauty of a work of art, it cannot justify the slaughter of wildlife," said Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen, president of the bishops' conference.

The prelate also urged the country's bishops "to enforce the directive" that no donation of any new religious object made from ivory shall be accepted and blessed.

In a "pastoral moral guidance" issued on Nov. 4, Villegas cited the relation between the defense of biodiversity and Christian spirituality in Pope Francis' encyclical on the environment, Laudato si'.

"Everything is interconnected, and this invites us to develop a spirituality of that global solidarity which flows from the mystery of the Trinity," Archbishop Villegas said, quoting the encyclical.

The prelate said the "church in the Philippines is very concerned that not enough dimension is given to this very important aspect of spirituality."

Archbishop Villegas noted that endemic species are hardly cared for in the country and poaching is rampant. 

"Our seas and waters are overfished. Wildlife is surreptitiously traded — because there are both buyers and sellers," the prelate said.

He said the Catholic Church "must do its part."

"Every instance of beauty is a reflection of the infinite beauty of the Creator.  We cannot, without offending the Creator, deface his creation," said Archbishop Villegas.

However, he said statues and images made from ivory and other materials from protected and endangered species already in use for centuries should be safeguarded, and may remain in use for purposes of "devotion and in recognition of their historical value."

In 2012, the country's Catholic bishops supported calls for a ban on ivory to help save the lives of elephants after reports linked Msgr. Cristobal Garcia of the Archdiocese of Cebu to the illegal trade in ivory. In 2014, investigators found "no sufficient evidence" to link Msgr. Garcia to the illegal trade.

In 2013, the Philippines destroyed an estimated five tons of seized elephant ivory valued at US$10 million after world attention was drawn to the reported leakage of ivory from government-held stockpiles in the country.

The Philippines is among nine countries and territories considered most heavily implicated in the illegal ivory trade. The country has been identified as a transit point for ivory originating from Africa or elsewhere in Asia heading to markets in China.--Ucannews.com