It seems that Luther isn’t even one of the two topics being considered for Ratzinger Reunion ’08:
The story “does not have any foundation, insofar as no rehabilitation of Luther is foreseen,” Father Lombardi told the Italian news agency ANSA March 8.
Vatican officials said the topic of the pope’s annual summer gathering of former students this year has not yet been decided. Of the two topics under consideration, Luther is not one of them, one official told Catholic News Service
Now. On to the new “Seven Deadly Sins” story.
When he finished his interview with L’Osservatore Romano, Archishop Gianfranco Girotti probably thought that his main message had been an appeal to Catholics to use the sacrament of Confession. Little did he know that the English-language news media would play the interview as a newly revised list of sins.
Archbishop Girotti, the regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary, spoke to the Vatican newspaper about “new forms of social sin” in our era. He mentioned such transgressions as destructive research on human embryos, degradation of the environment, and drug trafficking. Within hours, dozens of media sources were suggesting that the Vatican had radically revised the Ten Commandments, issuing a list of “new sins.”
As usual, a British newspaper leapt to the forefront with the most sensational and misleading coverage. The Daily Telegraph made the preposterous claim that Archbishop Girotti’s list replaced the traditional Catholic understanding of the seven deadly sins:
It replaces the list originally drawn up by Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th Century, which included envy, gluttony, greed, lust, wrath and pride.
Could we have a reality check, please?
When a second-tier Vatican official gives a newspaper interview, he is not proclaiming new Church doctrines. Archbishop Girotti was obviously trying to offer a new, provocative perspective on some enduring truths. The effort backfired– but in a very revealing way.
A CNS summary of the interview
Jim Lackey of CNS blogs on the manufactured controversy
Mollie at Get Religion does a nice take-down of the coverage.
Zadok has a good commentary and also a comment at Fr. Z’s, where the article (in Italian) is posted:
Having scanned through that article it seems that nowhere does the Osservatore Romano report or the Archbishop suggest that there are seven new deadly sins. The number seven is never mentioned, the deadly sins or capital vices are not mentioned, and of course nowhere is it suggested that these ‘new’ form of sins somehow replace the older forms of sin. They’re just new ways of committing the same old sins.
As another commentor remarks, the Archbishop’s point (in this regard – there are other points made in the interview) is that technology and globalization has the power to multiply the impact of our sin.
I am really at a loss to understand the mindset of those writing these ridiculous stories and headlines. I just don’t get where it’s all coming from.
I mean, given the fact that Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati’s body is being shipped to Australia for WYD , doesn’t that tell us that there’s enough Catholic headline-worthy oddness (in the world’s eyes) out there already that you’d think would get their attention without having to make stuff up?
Anyway, more on this last story:
Wanda Gawronska, Blessed Pier Giorgio’s niece, told CNS she was certain that her uncle’s remains would be part of World Youth Day.
“It is beautiful. It is something splendid,” she said.
The Vatican Congregation for Saints’ Causes must give final approval to the plan, she said, but she expects the congregation to do so.
Gawronska said the planning also includes ensuring the safety and dignified handling of the coffin during its transport, as well as complying with international and Australian health regulations concerning the transportation of human remains.
She said young people identify with her uncle “because they have the same problems, desires and interests he had. They see him more as a companion and a friend than as an authority.”
Christine Wohar, executive director of FrassatiUSA, was visiting Gawronska when news broke about the plans to transfer the body.
She told CNS she realized people outside Europe might find the idea a bit strange at first, only because “we do not really have an opportunity in the United States to venerate the remains of saints. Here in Rome, there is one in almost every church.”
“To me, this is an incredible opportunity,” she said.
“People who know Pier Giorgio love him. It is not a casual relationship; they really love him,” Wohar said. “It will be a comfort and special gift to have him at World Youth Day.”
I know where it’s coming from Amy, because I used to be one of those folks who got a chuckle out of the strange stories about that backward and hypocritical Roman Catholic Church. Whenever I’d read something from the BBC or wherever about the Pope ‘condeming’ some group or other to hell or limbo or then changing their minds on whether limbo existed or not it reinforced my naive and bigoted view of Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular.
I ‘knew’, just like ‘everyone knows’ that most Priests are pedophiles, the Catholic Church has always opposed scientific progress, tortured and burned opponents alive, started wars, supported the mass murder of Jews, pagans, and the peaceful, scientifically advanced Muslims, meddled in international affairs throughout history, supported slavery, the oppression of women, backward sexual morals, made up dogmas and doctrines to support its own power, and that believing Catholics were just poor fleeced dupes.
Praise to Jesus Christ that I’m not that way now, but those who think that way are LEGION.
“I am really at a loss to understand the mindset of those writing these ridiculous stories and headlines.”
The answer’s right there in the word you chose to describe the problem: mindset. Their minds are set on a simplistic caricature of the Church and her teachings.
Following for several years the two blogs on faith at The Times of London, including their comboxes, and the occasional BBC and Telegraph articles on the Catholic Church – it appears that Anglicans are feeling threatened by their shrinking numbers in the UK and the criticisms of Akinola and other overseas members of the Anglican Communion.
Add to that the increase in the numbers of “Roman” Catholics in the UK. And the recent publicity about the fact that heirs to the throne can’t marry Catholics, but they can marry Hindus and Muslims. And the conversion of their PM to Rome. And their fear of the EU which they think is progressing toward a new Holy Roman Empire with Blair at the head obeying the Pope’s every suggestion.
This defensiveness and befuddlement is showing up in the fanatic trashing of the Catholic Church as a way of building themselves up in comparison. It’s so predictable and laughable that I could probably write Glendill’s posts for her.
The Brits think of Catholics as lower class Irish and now the Poles and other Eastern Europeans – dumb and only good for plumbing repairs. All this garbage about the doings in Rome filters through this prejudice. Read the blog called “Cranmer” sometime. These folks are twisting themselves into knots over the state of the C of E and we are a convenient outlet for their dismay and anger.
AND – the UK was and continues to be the biggest influence on how Protestants in this country view Catholics. I am repeatedly astonished at the garbage highly educated Protestants here believe about the Church and its history.
In Europe, even if they tend to be secular, people recognize the Church’s intellectual heritage and see believers as wrong and misguided, but not as all ignorant low lifes. At least, that appears to be the case in comparison to the UK.
Two other observations.
I believe there is going to be an English version of L’Osservatore Romano before too long.
The press in general will not be relying on English translations with the negative slant coming from Owens at the Times of London.
If the Pope’s actual words and the real gist of the articles referrenced are immediately available in English, that should help the situation. Now, by the time somebody responds and tries to set things straight, it’s too late, the press has moved on.
2) That little priest from Rome who appears on FOX (Jonathon something) did a great job today saying the problem is journalism and not that there are 7 new sins, and explaining the gist of the article. Wish they would have had him on RIGHT AWAY to explain the real story. One of the two newsfolks working in that FOX segment made nice, intelligent comments about Benedict whose words he says he has been following.
I am glad you’ve been covering this. My reactionary Protestant friends have been debating the news as it was reported and I felt like it was a losing battle on my end. Much easier to defend the Church when I have the actual sensible facts.
Julia,
I’m confused. There’s been an English edition of L’Osservatore Romano since 1967. A weekly edition. Here: http://www.vatican.va/news_services/or/or_eng/index.htmlPerhaps you mean a daily edition?