Denver, Colo., Apr 18, 2005 / 22:00 pm
The on-line auctioning company, eBay is under fire today from Catholics around the world who are outraged that the company allowed a Eucharistic host allegedly consecrated by Pope John Paul II to be sold on their site.
Although the $2,000 sale did not go through thanks to the intervention of the Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa, faithful are still livid at the web site for allowing what they call a sacrilege and an insult.
Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver said in a letter to Meg Whitman of eBay, that, “the sale of a consecrated communion host by anyone, under any circumstance, is a very serious sacrilege for Catholics and therefore an equally serious insult to the Catholic community.”
Although officials at eBay say that they see nothing wrong with the sale because it violated no laws, the archbishop noted that he understands “that eBay runs a complex and open business—but this sort of sale is extraordinarily offensive.”