Priests told that pollution is a deadly sin

The Vatican has been told by one of its policy think tanks that pollution is a high contender to be added to the list of deadly sins.

Speaking at a seminar organised by the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Pope’s second in command on matters of penance, Archbishop Bianfranco Girotti, told Catholic priests that a number of new sins threaten to engulf the modern soul.

The Apostolic Penitentiary is the Catholic organisation in charge of setting the punishments and indulgences for particular sins.

Other sins which the Archbishop listed as relevant in the modern world included drug dealing, genetic manipulation, abortion, paedophilia and accumulation of excessive wealth.