My dear pal Robbo is currently in the process of converting to Roman Catholicism. He's long been frustrated with the Episcopalian Church's new, pc friendly line, that's light on condemning sin, is heavy on being a one-stop shop for everything new agey, and hence has decided to swim the Tiber. I wonder if he's still going to want to go through with it after reading this:

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - 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.

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 Benedict and his predecessor John Paul, 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.{...}

See it's one thing for Pope Benny to scatter solar panels across the various roofs of Vatican City; it's entirely another to make littering a sin. What's missing here is guidance from the dear red beanied one about whether creating environmental damage is a venial sin or is of the mortal variety. See, most Catholics are familiar with the fact that genetic manipulation---i.e. stem cell research---is absolutely verboten. This is absolutely nothing new in the scheme of things. But environmental damage? Could you, conceivably, be on the hook if your garbage contractor dumps the waste in an illegal fashion? What about if your city's water treatment plant screws up and lets loose raw sewage into pristine streams? As a Catholic, I know that I'm not supposed to even invest in a biotech firm that fiddles about with stem cell research. Am I supposed to follow the same line in choosing our garbage contractor, or otherwise I might be scheduled for some time roasting on a spit in hell? It's a bit murky if you ask me. And it might cause Robbo to think twice.

He's got a little over a week to decide. {insert wiggling of eyebrows here}

UPDATE: Steve-o and I are thinking along the same wavelength.

spoooooky

Posted by: Kathy at 08:42 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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