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The president of the Philippines bishops’ conference has asked his fellow prelates to ban priests from receiving or blessing new statues made of ivory.
Archbishop Socrates Villegas said new religious statues or images made from ivory or other materials from endangered or protected species should not be used as objects of veneration in churches.
“The Catholic Church must do its part. No matter the beauty of a work of art, it cannot justify the slaughter of wildlife, the use of endangered organic forms and lending a seal of approval to the threat posed to biodiversity by poachers and traffickers,” Archbishop Villegas said in a pastoral letter.
But existing statues and images made from such materials may continue to be used for devotion, he said, acknowledging their historic value.
Archbishop Villegas expressed concern for wildlife in the Philippines and elsewhere.
“Poaching is rampant. Our seas and waters are overfished. Wildlife is surreptitiously traded — because there are both buyers and sellers,” he added.
Environment groups regard the Philippines as one of Asia’s hotspots for the trade in illegal ivory, partly because it is a transport hub for African tusks to key Asian centres of demand such as China and Vietnam.
The use of the ivory as religious icons is another factor.
In 2012, a National Geographic investigation found that Philippines Catholic Church ownership of religious items made from ivory was widespread.
Some priests were found to be complicit in smuggling icons carved in Manila abroad.
The Church suspended a priest known for his vast collection of ivory statues following the report, which cited him as giving advice to a journalist on how to smuggle icons to the United States.
The Philippines is among eight nations of “primary concern” that should do more to stop the poaching of elephants and the illegal trade in ivory, according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Rampant poaching of elephants in Africa has caused a major drop in their numbers over recent decades.
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