BBC News, Rome
The Vatican has brought up to date the traditional seven deadly sins by adding seven modern mortal sins it claims are becoming prevalent in what it calls an era of "unstoppable globalisation".
Those newly risking eternal punishment include drug pushers, the obscenely wealthy, and scientists who manipulate human genes. So "thou shalt not carry out morally dubious scientific experiments" or "thou shalt not pollute the earth" might one day be added to the Ten Commandments.
| | MODERN EVILS Environmental pollution Genetic manipulation Accumulating excessive wealth Inflicting poverty Drug trafficking and consumption Morally debatable experiments Violation of fundamental rights of human nature |
The new mortal sins were listed by Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti at the end of a week-long training seminar in Rome for priests, aimed at encouraging a revival of the practice of confession - or the Sacrament of Penance in Church jargon.
According to a survey carried out here 10 years ago by the Catholic University, 60% of Italians have stopped going to confession altogether. The situation has certainly not improved during the past decade.
Catholics are supposed to confess their sins to a priest at least once a year. The priest absolves them in God's name.
Talking to course members at the end of the seminar organised by the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican department in charge of fixing the punishments and indulgences handed down to sinners, Pope Benedict added his own personal voice of disquiet.
"We are losing the notion of sin," he said. "If people do not confess regularly, they risk slowing their spiritual rhythm," he added. The Pope confesses his sins regularly once a week.
Greatest sins of our times
In an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Archbishop Girotti said he thought the most dangerous areas for committing new types of sins lay in the fields of bio-ethics and ecology.
He also named abortion and paedophilia as two of the greatest sins of our times. The archbishop brushed off cases of sexual violence against minors committed by priests as "exaggerations by the mass media aimed at discrediting the Church".
| | ORIGINAL DEADLY SINS Pride Envy Gluttony Lust Anger Greed Sloth |
"I think the major point is that priests who are hearing confessions are not sufficiently attuned to some of the real evils in our world," he told the BBC News website. "They need to be more aware today of the social face of sin - the inequalities at the social level. They think of sin too much on an individual level.
"I think priests who hear confession should have a deeper sense of the violence and injustice of such problems - and the fact that people collaborate simply by doing nothing. One of the original deadly sins is sloth - disengagement and not getting involved," Father O'Collins said. The Jesuit professor now teaches at St Mary's University in Twickenham.
"It was interesting that these remarks came from the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary," he said. "I can't remember a time when it was so concerned about issues such as environmental pollution and social injustice. It's a new way of thinking."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7287071.stm
Published: 2008/03/10 16:06:51 GMT
Seems spot on for this site. Fortunately I did not see 'though shalt not blog' on the list.
4 comments:
Genetic Manipulation? Drug Consumption? Seriously? And who decides what are morally debatable experiments? And what the hell does "Violation of fundamental rights of human nature" mean, condoms? The Vatican is attempting to stay culturally relevant and failing miserably. What about these as a list for modern evils:
1 - Genocide
2 - Prejudice
3 - Human Rights Violations
4 - Purposeful Ignorance
5 - Ethnic Cleansing
6 - Accumulating Excessive Wealth/Inflicting Poverty (alright, I agree with the church here, though the two are tied together)
7 - Ancient belief systems with no evidence for their arguments
The Catholic Church should stay where it belongs... in history books!
And Archbishop Girotti can suck it! I want him to tell the victims of sexual abuse by the priests' and their families that they are just doing it to discredit the church. And explain why the church didn't do anything about it. And why the church not only tried to cover up the facts, but kept the priests on active duty after reports from their parishes. Archbishop Girotti can go to hell.
... and he probably is, so don't sweat it too much. ;)
This is just another attempt by the Catholic Church to remain socially relevent in an era where ideas and beliefs flow freely through an increasingly more connected and aware world. And with percentage membership in the Catholic church lagging far behind the increase in population, it's plainly obvious to me than when people are aware of the spiritual choices available to them, Catholicism looks archaic and wrong headed at best.
Now if we can just do something about these Southern Baptists...
:P
...and the Mormons, Pentecostals, Wahabists, Ultra-orthodox Jews, etc., etc....I think the Catholic church is as backwards as anybody, but the fact is it is still relevant to many, may people. And while its numbers may be lagging, that slack is being picked up by Evangelical Christians, who are in no way better. I don't agree with Catholic church on much of anything, but I do think that it is positive step that they are speaking out against material excess, inflicting poverty, environmental concerns, and other timely issues. I am not at all comfortable with their stances on genetics, reproductive rights, and other issues. And I don't know what to make of the "human rights and human nature" clause. Sounds purposively ambiguous. My guess is that is a tricky was and progressive sounding way to be against gay rights, women's rights, and reproductive rights. And yes, Girotti can suck it. And has. And will go to Hell. If the Church got anything right at all.
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