Vatican says pollution is also a sin
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Luis
Mar 14, 2008, 1:54:43 AM3/14/08
to Philippine environment conservation
Vatican says pollution is also a sin
It tells Catholics that harming the environment is a modern-day
transgression requiring urgent attention.
By Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 14, 2008
VATICAN CITY -- A Vatican keen to show its green side has added
pollution to the realm of "new sins" that today's Catholics must
confront and avoid.
In this age of expanding globalization, the Vatican is telling
followers that sin is not just an individual act but can also be a
transgression against the larger community.
An offense against God, said senior Vatican official Msgr. Gianfranco
Girotti, "is not only stealing or coveting another man's wife, it is
also destroying the environment."
Polluting was just one of several sins Girotti decried as products of
modern circumstances that must be addressed urgently. Others include
gene manipulation (such as cloning or stem cell research), drug abuse
and becoming too wealthy, as well as practices more routinely
condemned by the Roman Catholic Church, such as abortion.
Girotti is with the Apostolic Penitentiary, the church office that
deals with sins and penance. He spoke in an interview last weekend
with l'Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper, after a
symposium for priests on how to stop the decline in confessions among
Catholics.
Under Catholic teaching, a believer atones for his or her sins by
confessing to a priest and receiving absolution from him.
"If yesterday sin had a rather individualistic dimension, today it has
an impact and resonance that is above all social, because of the great
phenomenon of globalization," Girotti said.
"In effect, attention to sin is a more urgent task today, precisely
because its consequences are more abundant and more destructive."
The mention of the environment reflects growing interest by Pope
Benedict XVI in saving the planet. Last summer, officials announced
the installation of 1,000 solar panels in the Paul VI Audience Hall,
the main auditorium in Vatican City. The city-state has joined a
reforestation program to offset its carbon emissions. And at a youth
festival with the pope last year, participants were given prayer books
made with recycled paper.
"Before it's too late," Benedict told the gathering of several hundred
thousand people, "we need to make courageous choices that will re-
create a strong alliance between man and Earth.
"We need a decisive 'yes' to care for creation and a strong commitment
to reverse those trends that risk making the situation of decay
irreversible," he added.
He has repeated the theme in major speeches and homilies.
The Catholic Church is not alone in giving new attention to
degradations of the planet and other environmental trouble. The
Southern Baptist Convention this month announced plans to fight global
warming, and the California diocese of the Episcopal Church recently
appointed its first canon for environmental ministry.
For the Vatican, going green is a relatively new phenomenon. Church
hierarchy had been divided, and many priests saw ecology as a concern
of rich, developed countries, not the poor regions of the world. But
scarcity of resources and natural disasters are hurting the poor,
others have pointed out, making care for the environment a moral
responsibility for all the faithful.
Girotti's discussion of "new sins" (though many were not exactly new)
was also an attempt to appeal to the modern Catholic and show the
relevance of church teachings and guidance in the globalized world.
"The Vatican's intent seemed to be less about adding to the
traditional 'deadly' sins [lust, anger, sloth, pride, avarice,
gluttony, envy] than reminding the world that sin has a social
dimension and that participation in institutions that themselves sin
is an important point upon which believers needed to reflect," Father
James Martin, acting publisher of the Jesuit magazine America, said in
a blog he operates.
"In other words, if you work for a company that pollutes the
environment, you have something more important to consider for Lent
than whether or not to give up chocolate."
wilk...@latimes.com
It tells Catholics that harming the environment is a modern-day
transgression requiring urgent attention.
By Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 14, 2008
VATICAN CITY -- A Vatican keen to show its green side has added
pollution to the realm of "new sins" that today's Catholics must
confront and avoid.
In this age of expanding globalization, the Vatican is telling
followers that sin is not just an individual act but can also be a
transgression against the larger community.
An offense against God, said senior Vatican official Msgr. Gianfranco
Girotti, "is not only stealing or coveting another man's wife, it is
also destroying the environment."
Polluting was just one of several sins Girotti decried as products of
modern circumstances that must be addressed urgently. Others include
gene manipulation (such as cloning or stem cell research), drug abuse
and becoming too wealthy, as well as practices more routinely
condemned by the Roman Catholic Church, such as abortion.
Girotti is with the Apostolic Penitentiary, the church office that
deals with sins and penance. He spoke in an interview last weekend
with l'Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper, after a
symposium for priests on how to stop the decline in confessions among
Catholics.
Under Catholic teaching, a believer atones for his or her sins by
confessing to a priest and receiving absolution from him.
"If yesterday sin had a rather individualistic dimension, today it has
an impact and resonance that is above all social, because of the great
phenomenon of globalization," Girotti said.
"In effect, attention to sin is a more urgent task today, precisely
because its consequences are more abundant and more destructive."
The mention of the environment reflects growing interest by Pope
Benedict XVI in saving the planet. Last summer, officials announced
the installation of 1,000 solar panels in the Paul VI Audience Hall,
the main auditorium in Vatican City. The city-state has joined a
reforestation program to offset its carbon emissions. And at a youth
festival with the pope last year, participants were given prayer books
made with recycled paper.
"Before it's too late," Benedict told the gathering of several hundred
thousand people, "we need to make courageous choices that will re-
create a strong alliance between man and Earth.
"We need a decisive 'yes' to care for creation and a strong commitment
to reverse those trends that risk making the situation of decay
irreversible," he added.
He has repeated the theme in major speeches and homilies.
The Catholic Church is not alone in giving new attention to
degradations of the planet and other environmental trouble. The
Southern Baptist Convention this month announced plans to fight global
warming, and the California diocese of the Episcopal Church recently
appointed its first canon for environmental ministry.
For the Vatican, going green is a relatively new phenomenon. Church
hierarchy had been divided, and many priests saw ecology as a concern
of rich, developed countries, not the poor regions of the world. But
scarcity of resources and natural disasters are hurting the poor,
others have pointed out, making care for the environment a moral
responsibility for all the faithful.
Girotti's discussion of "new sins" (though many were not exactly new)
was also an attempt to appeal to the modern Catholic and show the
relevance of church teachings and guidance in the globalized world.
"The Vatican's intent seemed to be less about adding to the
traditional 'deadly' sins [lust, anger, sloth, pride, avarice,
gluttony, envy] than reminding the world that sin has a social
dimension and that participation in institutions that themselves sin
is an important point upon which believers needed to reflect," Father
James Martin, acting publisher of the Jesuit magazine America, said in
a blog he operates.
"In other words, if you work for a company that pollutes the
environment, you have something more important to consider for Lent
than whether or not to give up chocolate."
wilk...@latimes.com
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