Today's Dominion Post has a large article on the front page of the world section titled "Polluters and druggies - go to hell". The teaser on the front page says "Deadly Sins: Pope's new list". News items on the radio have also be referring to the seven deadly sins being revised. FairFactsMedia and David Farrar and Peter Cresswell have jumped on the bandwagon. The following is an example of the major error in understanding of what the Vatican has said:
The first error is the assumption that there were only seven "deadly" sins to start with and that these "new" seven are actually adding to that list. The seven stand on their own and don't need to be added to.
The second error is in interpretation. These "new" sins aren't really new. They are already covered under the original seven and/or the Ten Commandments and/or Church Doctrine. They may seem to be new as they cover new situations where the same old sin takes hold. That's most likely what Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti meant when asked about "new" sins.
For a less biased and more accurate article than both the BBC and the Times articles, I would recommend this one by Associated Press: Vatican Updates Its Thou-Shalt-Not List. It puts the whole thing into much better perspective.
As an aside to all of this, it's always interesting what type of Catholic news makes it to mainstream secular consciousness. Digging up and displaying St Pio doesn't make a mention, but adding sins - woah! There's probably a psychological reason for that. Maybe it's because deep down, people know they need a better appreciation of sin, so the antennae pop up. Which is a good thing, because sin is what separates us from God and a knowledge of sin is one of the first steps in healing that separation.
Update:
The Vatican has brought up to date the traditional seven deadly sins by adding seven modern mortal sins it claims are becoming prevalent in what it calls an era of "unstoppable globalisation".Where do I start?
~ Fewer confessions and new sins ~ BBC
The first error is the assumption that there were only seven "deadly" sins to start with and that these "new" seven are actually adding to that list. The seven stand on their own and don't need to be added to.
The second error is in interpretation. These "new" sins aren't really new. They are already covered under the original seven and/or the Ten Commandments and/or Church Doctrine. They may seem to be new as they cover new situations where the same old sin takes hold. That's most likely what Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti meant when asked about "new" sins.
For a less biased and more accurate article than both the BBC and the Times articles, I would recommend this one by Associated Press: Vatican Updates Its Thou-Shalt-Not List. It puts the whole thing into much better perspective.
As an aside to all of this, it's always interesting what type of Catholic news makes it to mainstream secular consciousness. Digging up and displaying St Pio doesn't make a mention, but adding sins - woah! There's probably a psychological reason for that. Maybe it's because deep down, people know they need a better appreciation of sin, so the antennae pop up. Which is a good thing, because sin is what separates us from God and a knowledge of sin is one of the first steps in healing that separation.
Update:
Archbishop Girotti said that the modern world does not understand the nature of sin. With their coverage of the interview, the mass media unintentionally underlined the prelate's point.The Forum: Not "new sins" but an old media blind spot ~ Catholic World News