Last weekend, the Vatican’s official in charge of exploring new forms of sin, Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, outlined a range of modern sins that the Church would now officially condemn. In addition to activities such as drug trafficking and stem cell research, Girotti pointed to “ecological” offenses as one of the most pressing new forms of sin.
An institution that has undergone a significant green transformation, the Vatican and its leaders have made numerous calls in recent months to combat climate change. In fact, the Vatican recently went so far as to host an international conference on how to reduce the environmental damage caused by fossil fuels. 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.
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 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 percent 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 percent of Italian Catholics believed that there was no need for a priest to be God's intermediary and 20 percent felt uncomfortable talking about their sins to another person.
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