Holy Crop! Vatican Blesses GMOs, though ‘Unofficially’

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences has kept the world guessing as to whether the Catholic Church will fully support genetically modified organisms. On November 30th, 2020, 40 international scientists, including seven Pontifical Academy members, released a statement calling for a relaxation of what they deemed “excessive, unscientific regulations” for approving GM crops. The scientists argued that they have both the right and a moral duty to use genetic modification to help the world’s poor. Ingo Potrykus, a member of the Pontifical Academy based at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, was instrumental in bringing about the meeting. Notably, most of the 40 participants had long-standing support for GMOs. According to U.S. Catholic, several of the speakers had ties to Monsanto. The U.S., home to the multinational biotechnology giant, has long lobbied the Vatican to speak positively about GMOs. Despite this, Pope Francis and Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, the chancellor of the academy, have both tried to distance themselves from the endorsement, claiming that the statements do not reflect the official position of the Holy See or the Academy.

Recent revelations by WikiLeaks have cast a light on the Vatican’s stance on genetically modified crops, despite attempts by the Holy See to remain publicly neutral. The transmission from Christopher Sandrolini, a US diplomat to the Holy See, suggests the Vatican’s clandestine approval of GM crops. 

Cardinal Renato Martino, Washington’s ally at the Vatican, has spoken of the benefits and safety of GMOs, and hosted a biotech conference at the Vatican in 2003. However, a WikiLeaks cable indicates Martino may have been playing the role of a good diplomat, with a deputy claiming the cardinal had cooperated with the embassy on biotech “in part to compensate for his vocal disapproval of the Iraq war and its aftermath – to keep relations with the US (government) smooth”. 

The Vatican has stated that the WikiLeaks cables reflect only the views of the people who wrote them, and not official Vatican positions. Nevertheless, the Holy See’s relatively modern stance on science and technology, including its acceptance of the evidence of evolution, astronomy, archaeology and biology, means its policies on GMOs must be taken seriously. If the church’s tendency to support GMOs becomes the official position, it could have far-reaching implications.

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