If you’ve ever wondered where the Catholic Church stands on the unsavory use of ivory in religious objects, you now have an answer.

Last fall, a reporter with National Geographic wrote the Vatican to inquire about the church’s stance on using ivory to construct crucifixes and other devotional objects. Last week, he published a blog post on the organization’s website saying that the Pope’s spokesman, the Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, had not yet responded. You can read the original letter and the author’s follow-up attempts here.