Reason and Concern

By Ronquillo C. Tolentino

Modern Times, Modern Social Sins?

Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, a member of the Vatican’s Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary discussed in the March l0,2008 edition of the L’ Osservatore Romano the “new forms of social sins. Girotti gave, among others, genetic manipulation and drug trafficking as examples .On genetic manipulation, Girotti said that the greatest danger zone for the modern soul is the uncharted world of bioethics.
There are areas in bioethics which are in 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, of course, had made its opposition to stem research that considers destruction of embryos and had admonished on the prospects of human cloning. He added “ecological” offences, social and economic injustices in his listing of modern sins.
A few months back, Pope Benedict XVI made strong appeals for the protection of the environment. Vatican is fully aware that climate change should be thoroughly addressed by world leaders as it has become gravely important for the human race.
In reality, Girotti did not make his pronouncement as an official decision on behalf of the Catholic Church. This notwithstanding and aware of Girotti’s lack of real authority coupled with the clear want and absence of an interview by L’Osservatore Romano with Pope Benedict XVI, the mainstream media sensationalized and hyped Girroti’s “new forms of social sins”. Certain foreign media even went to make their own interpretations and spins.
The Daily Telegraph’s website, for instance, claimed that the “new forms of social sins” replace the list originally drawn up by Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th century, which included envy, gluttony greed, lust, wrath and pride. Reuters reported that “ the Vatican has told the faithful that they should be aware of “new” sins such as causing environmental blight. There are other foreign media who missed the point of Girroti’s statements.
Fair enough, the Phil Lawler of the Catholic World News immediately saw the exaggerations and blasted certain foreign media of their irresponsible reporting of the Girroti interview when he labeled the Daily Telegraph’s claim that the new social sins replaced the 6th century list as “preposterous” and then emphasized that “When a second-tier Vatican official gives a newspaper interview, he is not proclaiming new Church doctrines. Archbishop Girroti was obviously trying to offer new, provocative perspective on some enduring truths. The effort backfired – but in a very revealing way”.
The L’Osservatore interview with Archbishop Girroti should be read again, nay, revisited. Probably, they would find out the archbishop’s statement that modern world does not understand the nature of sin. The Catholic World News stated that the fundamental point of the L’Osservatore Romano interview was that Catholics need to recover a sense of sin, make use of the Sacrament of Confession, and receive absolution for their offenses. /MP