Italian cardinal says polluters should not receive Communion
November 07, 2013
People who intentionally pollute the earth are guilty of grave sin and should not receive the Eucharist, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe of Naples has said. ''Those who pollute are not in the grace of God and can not take communion,'' the cardinal told an audience at an environmentalist convention. He was apparently responding to recent revelations that Mafia figures had buried toxic waste near Naples, creating a high risk of cancer for local residents.
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Posted by: extremeCatholic -
Nov. 07, 2013 11:22 PM ET USA
I find the certainty that Cardinal has regarding the state of the souls of "those who pollute" mystifying. First, in a sense we're all polluters - we consume, and produce waste. This commenced in Genesis 3:7 with the consumer/producer/polluter society of Adam and Eve. Burying toxic waste is not merely pollution, but a reckless indifference to its threat to human life.
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Posted by: -
Nov. 07, 2013 9:40 PM ET USA
I'm sure glad we're worried about pollution when unborn children are being killed. Good grief.
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Posted by: FredC -
Nov. 07, 2013 8:58 PM ET USA
Who defines this nefarious pollution? We exhale carbon dioxide -- a global warming gas.
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Posted by: filioque -
Nov. 07, 2013 6:35 PM ET USA
I once asked Card. Burke, who has carefully explained the proper application of Canon 915 and himself applied it to Catholic politicians who supported abortion, what could be said of bishops who refused to apply it. He replied, "I was afraid you would ask me that." Does the good Cardinal of Naples think that polluting is worse than aborting? Does he have no CINO politicians in his archdiocese who are publicly supporting abortion or other grave sins?
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Posted by: Defender -
Nov. 07, 2013 1:59 PM ET USA
And CINO politicians who ignore the Magisterium and are guilty of their own form of pollution? And what of the bishops who ignore these politicians?
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Posted by: jg23753479 -
Nov. 07, 2013 1:50 PM ET USA
One might think that other Mafia "businesses'' might have excluded their practitioners from communion before the dumping revelation. Murder, extortion, and other classic enterprises of this foul outfit come to mind. For that matter, why wouldn't mere membership in the Mafia do the trick? After all, if being a Mason....
