Vatican: PHL bishops could 'go into schism' over GMOs

A recent disclosure by Wikileaks reveals that the Catholic Church in the Philippines apparently does not see eye-to-eye with the Vatican on genetically modified foods. Whistleblower site Wikileaks disclosed earlier this week that the Vatican is "largely supportive" of genetically modified foods (GMOs) in fighting world hunger, according to a private cable sent to Washington, DC, by the US Embassy to the Holy See. In a related cable, the Embassy detailed discussions between Michael Hall, Biotechnology Advisor for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Regional Economic Development Services Office in Nairobi, and Monsignor James Reinert of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Reinert supposedly told embassy officials that not everyone in the Catholic Church may be comfortable with the Vatican's acceptance of GMOs as an alternative approach for countries to increase agriculture production. He even "joked" that the Philippines might "go into schism" over the Vatican's acceptance of GMOs. "Reinert said that many clergy, especially those working in the developing world, continued to be anti-biotech, though many seemed uninformed about the science. He pointed to the Philippines as a country with a particularly anti-GMO Catholic hierarchy, joking that the Filipino Church would 'go into schism' if the Vatican came out any stronger for biotech food," the cable said. "By word and action the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences have established the Holy See as giving at least a cautious go-ahead to bioengineered foods. It may be difficult to get much more in the near future. The pope has not shown his cards on the issue, but some feel he may have been influenced by European prejudices against biotech food," the cable concluded. — VS, GMANews.TV