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Vatican spokesman: Impotence in face of oil spill should teach man humility

CWN - June 21, 2010

Comparing the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to the Bhopal and Chernobyl incidents of the 1980s, Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, said that “what is striking in this case is the sense of impotence and slowness in finding a solution in the face of the disaster, on the part of one the largest and most well-equipped multinational oil companies in the world, but also on the part of the most powerful country on earth.”

“Will we be able to learn a lesson from this about prudence and care in using the resources of the earth and about the planet's equilibriums?” Father Lombardi asked as he appeared on Octava Dies, the weekly Vatican television show. “Certainly,” he said, “much will change from now on in the oil drilling industry to make it safer.”

“But perhaps we can also learn a lesson of humility.”

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  • Posted by: rdennehy8049 - Jun. 23, 2010 5:42 AM ET USA

    I must have read a different article. The article I read showed that we are only human and that we do not have all the answers. Also we must use the resourses that God has put here on earth wisely.

  • Posted by: extremeCatholic - Jun. 21, 2010 8:44 PM ET USA

    Is this schadenfreude or chutzpah? I think it's a bit of both. What is "striking" is while the preliminary conclusion is this is the failure of a blowout preventer, Fr Lombardi want us to conclude now that it was a moral failure. In other news, the BP press office, writing about sexual abuse scandal and the dramatic drop of vocations in the Catholic Church said "what is striking in this case is the sense of impotence and slowness in finding a solution in the face of the disaster".

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