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March 10, 2008

Not "new sins" but an old media blind spot (Vatican _DOES_NOT_ Announce Seven New Deadly Sins (Updated)

As is their custom, the media has once again leaped to report a story only to get it totally wrong:

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?

Related: The MSM's Seven Deadly Sins: Since the Vatican updated its list of seven deadly sins, now's as good a time as any to review the media's own seven deadly sins, namely, the 7 principles of media objectivity.

Posted by Richard at March 10, 2008 11:58 PM

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