In olden days the
deadly sins included lust, gluttony, and greed. Now,
the Catholic Church says pollution, mind-damaging drugs, and
genetic experiments are on its updated thou-shalt-not
list.
Also receiving
fresh attention by the Vatican was social injustice along
the lines of the age-old maxim: ''The rich get richer while
the poor get poorer.''
In the Vatican's
latest update on how God's law is being violated in
today's world, Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti, the head of the
Apostolic Penitentiary, was asked by the Vatican
newspaper L'Osservatore Romano what, in his opinion,
are the ''new sins.'' He cited ''violations of the
basic rights of human nature'' through genetic
manipulation, drugs that ''weaken the mind and cloud
intelligence,'' and the imbalance between the rich and the
poor.
''If yesterday
sin had a rather individualistic dimension, today it has a
weight, a resonance, that's especially social, rather than
individual,'' said Girotti, whose office deals with
matters of conscience and grants absolution.
It's not the
first time that the Vatican has sought to put a modern spin
on sin. Last year, the Vatican took on the problem of
highway accidents, issuing a kind of ''Ten
Commandments'' for drivers against the sins of road
rage, alcohol abuse, and even rudeness behind the wheel.
Vatican
officials, however, stressed that Girotti's comments broke
no new ground on what constitutes sin.
On the
environment, both Pope Benedict XVI and the late Pope John
Paul II frequently expressed concern about the fate of
the Earth. During Benedict's papacy, Vatican engineers
have developed plans for some Holy See buildings to
use solar energy, including photovoltaic cells on the
roof of the auditorium for pilgrims' audiences with the
pontiff.
John Paul also
dedicated much of his long papacy to condemning the gap
between the haves and have-nots in speeches in his travels
throughout the world as well as in writings.
''The poor are
always becoming poorer and the rich ever more rich,
feeding unsustainable social injustice,'' Girotti said in
the interview published Sunday.
Closer to home,
Girotti was asked about the many ''situations of scandal
and sin within the church,'' in what appeared to be a
reference to allegations in the United States and
other countries of sexual abuse by clergy of minors
and the cover-ups by church hierarchy. The monsignor
acknowledged the ''objective gravity'' of the allegations
but contended that the heavy coverage by mass media of
the scandals must also be denounced because it
''discredits the church.''
Benedict has been
leading the Vatican's campaign against abortion, and
Girotti was asked about the ''widespread perception'' that
the church doesn't consider the ''difficult''
predicament for women.
Girotti rejected
that view, saying that Catholic organizations help unwed
mothers, educating ''their children who come into the worth
because of their lack of foresight'' and facilitating
adoption. (AP)