Saturday, January 1, 2005

Vatican About to Put the Smackdown on . . . Smoking?

Via . United Press International reports:

Vatican City, Vatican City, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- An article in a leading Roman Catholic journal signals that the Vatican may join the public health establishment's crusade against cigarette smoking.

The latest edition of the scholarly publication Civilta Cattolica, published by the Jesuits and approved by a top aide to Pope John Paul II, says smokers cannot damage their own health and that of others "without moral responsibility."

The article by Giuseppe de Rosa stops short of calling smoking a sin, but says lighting up is "not neutral either in social or indeed moral terms."

LRS ponders: "I wonder if this includes pipes and cigars?" So do I. And what would Chesterton think? (He to whom the quote is attributed: "The Catholic Church is like a thick steak, a glass of red wine, and a good cigar.")

And why does the United Press see fit to announce this as "breaking news"?

No comments:

Post a Comment