Published by Claire Colvin on March 10th, 2008 in Talk

Tags: catholic, church, drugs, environment, pollution, sin, Vatican

They say there’s nothing new under the sun, but just yesterday the Vatican added several new sins to the list.  You’re probably familiar with the seven deadly sins — lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride.  In addition to being taught in catechism classes around the world you’ll find them in movies, comic books, on TV and most famously in Dante’s view of the circles of Hell in his Divine Comedy.

These seven were never intended to be an exhaustive list.  The Catholic Church differentiates between these deadly sins and a much longer list of venial sins – sins for which a person can be forgiven through confession and penitence.  This past weekend that list got a little longer. 

According to a report on CNN, the new sins include “drugs, which weaken the mind and obscure intelligence; pollution; as well as the widening social and economic differences between the rich and the poor that ‘cause an unbearable social injustice.’”  The article goes on to say:

Father Antonio Pelayo, a Spanish priest and Vatican expert noted that it is time for both sinners and confessors to get over their obsession with sex and think about other ways humans hurt each other in the world in which they live.

"There are many other sins that are perhaps much more grave that don’t have anything to do with sex - that have to do with life, that have to do with the environment, that have to do with justice," he told AP Television.

I don’t think anyone would argue that pollution, for example is a good thing, but is it a sin?

Photo of the stairs at the Vatican Museums courtesy of Robert Catalano.  Used with permission.