Leading Italian cardinal decries gambling
June 07, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: Stating that “gambling humiliates people” and “takes away dignity,” Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, said that “the Church is not lowering her guard” against it.
“There is so much suffering and loneliness” tied to gambling addiction, the prelate added, following a report that the among wagered in Italy on gambling grew to €147.7 billion ($160.8 billion) in 2023. “We are going backwards on gambling; the situation has worsened. There is a very dangerous intertwining of the legal and the illegal that is cloaked in shameful justifications.”
Cardinal Zuppi made his remarks during an anti-gambling conference, during which advocates called for increased governmental regulation.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in its treatment of the Seventh Commandment, teaches that “games of chance (card games, etc.) or wagers are not in themselves contrary to justice. They become morally unacceptable when they deprive someone of what is necessary to provide for his needs and those of others. The passion for gambling risks becoming an enslavement.”
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