Genetic manipulation, pollution top Vatican's 'new sins'

Philip Pullella, Reuters Published: Monday, March 10, 2008
FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty ImagesPope Benedict XVI waves at the faithful as he leaves Saint Lawrence in Piscibus church after celebrating a mass at the International Youth Centre in Rome March 9, 2008. Celebrating the Angelus Sunday ...

VATICAN CITY -- Thou shall not pollute the Earth. Thou shall beware genetic manipulation.
Modern times bring with them modern sins. So the Vatican has told the faithful that they should be aware of "new" sins such as causing environmental blight.
The guidance came at the weekend when Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, the Vatican's number two man in the sometimes murky area of sins and penance, spoke of modern evils.
Asked what he believed were today's "new sins," he told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that the greatest danger zone for the modern soul was the largely uncharted world of bioethics.

"[Within bioethics] there are areas where we absolutely must denounce some violations of the fundamental rights of human nature through experiments and genetic manipulation whose outcome is difficult to predict and control," he said.

The Vatican opposes stem cell research that involves destruction of embryos and has warned against the prospect of human cloning.
Archbishop Girotti, in an interview headlined "New Forms of Social Sin," also listed "ecological" offences as modern evils.
In recent months, Pope Benedict has made several strong appeals for the protection of the environment, saying issues such as climate change had become gravely important for the entire human race.

Under Pope Benedict and his predecessor Pope John Paul II, the Vatican has become progressively "green."
It has installed photovoltaic cells on buildings to produce electricity and hosted a scientific conference to discuss the ramifications of global warming and climate change, widely blamed on human use of fossil fuels.
Archbishop Girotti, who is number two in the Vatican "Apostolic Penitentiary," which deals with matter of conscience, also listed drug trafficking and social and economic injustices as modern sins.

But Archbishop Girotti also bemoaned that fewer and fewer Catholics go to confession at all.
He pointed to a study by Milan's Catholic University that showed that up to 60% of Catholic faithful in Italy stopped going to confession.
In the sacrament of Penance, Catholics confess their sins to a priest who absolves them in God's name.
But the same study by the Catholic University showed that 30% of Italian Catholics believed that there was no need for a priest to be God's intermediary and 20% felt uncomfortable talking about their sins to another person.
Reuters © 2008
#Pope Urges Academics To Be TolerantNational Post - Monday, Jan. 21, 2008
Students crowd Vatican in support of PopeNational Post - Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008
Pope raises stakes in fight with the DevilNational Post - Saturday, Dec. 29, 2007
Ex-British PM converts to CatholicismNational Post - Monday, Dec. 24, 2007
Bountiful mother wins custody of her childrenNational Post - Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007
More From the Web
Clash of holy weeks proves no hurdle for sporting IrishThe Guardian - Monday, March 10, 2008
Vatican Updates Thou-Shalt-Not ListNBC 4 Los Angeles (KNBC) - Monday, March 10, 2008
"Thou-shalt-not" list longer for Catholics nowABC 6 Philly (WPVI) - Monday, March 10, 2008
Catholic University Officials Remember...FOX 5 Washington (WTTG) - Monday, March 10, 2008
Vatican goes green, adds new sinsTimes of India - Monday, March 10, 2008
Buzzworthy: New sins for a new centurySeattle Post-Intelligencer - Monday, March 10, 2008
Andy's Seven AngelsBeliefnet - Monday, March 10, 2008
Recycle Or Go To Hell: Vatican Extends Its List Of Deadly SinsNBC 12 Montgomery (WSFA) - Monday, March 10, 2008
Social and economic injustice is a sin, says Catholic ChurchThe 13th Juror - Monday, March 10, 2008
Polluting Now A Sin For CatholicsCBS4 Denver Video - Monday, March 10, 2008

more