Catholic group ends eBay boycott after auction site changes policy

Published: 2005-05-05

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholic groups called off their boycott of eBay once they received word from the Internet auction site May 1 that the site would no longer allow consecrated hosts or other sacred objects to be sold. "We're glad that the concerted efforts of so many individuals and groups, including the league, have led to this positive change in eBay's policies," said Phil Horgan, president of the Catholic Civil Rights League in Ottawa. Catholics had been urged to boycott the site after it allowed an Iowa man to try to sell shortly after Pope John Paul II's death a Communion host reportedly consecrated by him. The host was later withdrawn by the seller, no money exchanged hands and the host was properly disposed of according to church law. But groups urging the boycott insisted that eBay should never have allowed the auction of an item that is sacred to Catholics.

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