Vatican leaders put a modern spin on sin

Move over lust, gluttony and envy.

Manipulating genes, trafficking hallucinogenic drugs and acts against the environment are now also enough to punch a one-way ticket to damnation, according to new guidelines from the Vatican.

The Roman Catholic Church outlines the guidelines in a list of seven new mortal sins for modern life.

Also included on the list is inflicting poverty on others, performing morally debatable experiments, accumulating excessive wealth and "violations of the basic rights of human nature," said Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary in Rome.

"If yesterday sin had a rather individualistic dimension, today it has a weight, a resonance, that's especially social, rather than individual," Girotti was quoted in Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano on Sunday.

The original deadly sins were guiding principles for Catholic followers to avoid throughout their lives, said Troy Nunley, a lecturer of the philosophy of religion at the University of Texas-Pan American.

But the new and improved sins demand broader societal change, he said.

"The modern sins also seem to demand more immediate societal action than the older ones," Nunley said.

And, as many scientific advancements leapt more in the past 100 years than in the previous millennium, people can lose sight of their impact on earth, Monsignor Bob Maher from the Diocese of Brownsville.

"What this list of new sins basically is calling us modern people to do is to have a greater sense of responsibility with response to our technological powers," Maher said.

This is not the first time the Vatican has updated modern sins.

Last year, the Vatican took on highway accidents, issuing a pseudo "Ten Commandments" for drivers against road rage, alcohol abuse and rudeness behind the wheel.

Reckless driving is just one example of how people harm the environment and others - but may not immediately realize it, Maher said.

"They're not directly trying to hurt anybody, but indirectly they are," he said.

Whether the Vatican's newest deadly sins will actually stop people from hoarding money or polluting the environment remains to be seen.

As executive director of the Valley Nature Center in Weslaco, Martin Hagne said he is a self-described nature lover. Hagne said he believes "there is a divine creation but ... you can do that and be a scientist and a biologist also."

But should polluting the earth carry a sentence of eternal misery?

"My personal belief is that we are here to take care of the Earth," Hagne said, "but I'm not sure it's a cardinal sin."

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Jared Taylor covers Edinburg, the Delta region and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4439.