The eighth deadly sin: bad reporting

As Catholic stories go, it sounded like a bombshell: the pope had added seven new deadly sins that could send a person to hell -- and one of them was polluting the environment!

I was assigned to write that story for last night's CBS Evening News, and the more I read about it, the more it sounded like something else that pollutes the environment: horse manure.

Every story on the wires told a different version. There were seven. No, there were six. It included abortion. No, one of them was stem cell experiments. It mentioned pedophilia. The guy who issued the decree was a monsignor. No, he was a bishop. He was the pope's right hand guy. No, he was a Vatican spokesman. And on and on and on. It made my head hurt.

Finally, in the afternoon, I spoke with the CBS News religion consultant at the Vatican, Fr. Thomas Williams. He confirmed what I suspected: there's nothing new in the "new" deadly sins -- and they aren't necessarily deadly, and they don't number seven, and it's all one person's interpretation of moral failings that are as old as time itself. The pope had nothing to do with it. It doesn't change doctrine or dogma one iota.

There was no there there.

I told the senior producer to spike the story, explained why, and went on to other things.

Meantime, James Martin, SJ, at America has been following this foolishness and writing about it, too:

The Vatican's intent seemed to be less about adding to the traditional "deadly" sins (lust, anger, sloth, pride, avarice, gluttony, envy) than reminding the world that sin has a social dimension, and that participation in institutions that themselves sin is an important point upon which believers needed to reflect.

In other words, if you work for a company that pollutes the environment, you have something more important to consider for Lent than whether or not to give up chocolate.

Yep. That about says it. And members of the slipshod media have more important things to consider, I think, as well...