Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Vatican on Values

There are new deadly sins! It's like an update on the menu, and many of the new sins are more socially and environmentally concerned. That's very nice. That using birth control is counted among the sins is not.

Even more interestingly, Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti, the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, had this to say about the clergy sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church:

Closer to home, Girotti was asked about the many "situations of scandal and sin within the church," in what appeared to be a reference to allegations in the United States and other countries of sexual abuse by clergy of minors and the coverups by hierarchy.

The monsignor acknowledged the "objective gravity" of the allegations, but contended that the heavy coverage by mass media of the scandals must also be denounced because it "discredits the church."

Yes, you read that second paragraph correctly. It would have been better if the media had not covered the sex abuse scandals.

Girotti also tells us that the Catholic Church supports unwed mothers:

Benedict has been leading the Vatican's campaign against abortion, and Girotti was asked about the "widespread perception" that the church doesn't consider the "difficult" predicament for women.

Girotti rejected that view, saying that Catholic organizations help unwed mothers, educating "their children who come into the worth [sic] because of their lack of foresight" and facilitating adoption.

Notice how neatly the women get scolded, even if they have not chosen to abort their pregnancies? Once a fallen woman always a fallen woman.
Thanks to janemarg for the original link to this story