Social effects of sin greater than ever, says Vatican official

Published: 2008-03-10

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In today's globalized culture, the social effects of sin are greater than ever before and deserve the church's urgent attention, a Vatican official said. New forms of sin have arisen in the area of biotechnology, economics and ecology, and many involve questions of individual rights and wider social effects, said Bishop Gianfranco Girotti. Bishop Girotti is an official of the Apostolic Penitentiary, an office that deals with questions relating to penance and indulgences. He made the comments in an interview March 8 with the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. Bishop Girotti said the sense of sin in today's world should be even more acute than before, since the effects of sin are often widespread. "If yesterday sin had a rather individualistic dimension, today it has an impact and resonance that is above all social, because of the great phenomenon of globalization," he said.

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