MANILA — Philippine law enforcement officials said on Wednesday that they were investigating whether a senior priest in the Roman Catholic Church was involved in the smuggling of elephant ivory to feed the country’s passion for religious icons.

The investigation was prompted by an article in the October issue of National Geographic magazine that…

The Catholic News Service runs this story, which has already garnered important response from the midwest assoc director of SNAP. Also in the US, the Washington Post has its own recap in Business.

Papers, columnists, and blogs in the Philippines range in reaction to Blood Ivory’s expose from “it’s about time” to “why pick on us?” to this is “anti-Catholic bias” to this is the work of the devil…

These last reactions, some of which come from the Archdiocese of Cebu and even from the Archbishop, are the most interesting.  If there is a devil at work in the world wouldn’t he come down on the side of pedophiles or elephant poachers?