The sin of pollution?

A Vatican official this week spelled out an unofficial modern update for the Catholic church's list of seven deadly sins, said Manya Brachear in a Chicago Tribune blog, and by focusing on "evil deeds with social consequences" the Vatican is reaf

What happened

Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti, in the Vatican office that oversees sins and penance, this week laid out an unofficial update of the Roman Catholic Church's seven deadly sins. The modern-era additions reflect communal transgressions more than personal ones. “You offend God not only by stealing, blaspheming or coveting your neighbor’s wife,” Girotti told the official Vatican paper L’Osservatore Roman, “but also by ruining the environment.” (CNN) Along with pollution, the new batch includes making people poor; excessive wealth; social injustice; drug abuse; “morally dubious” experiments, as with stem cells; and birth control and other “bioethical” sins. (Bloomberg)

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us