Sunday, 22 February 2009

Who sins what?

Here’s a worrying trend. A Vatican study, quoted in the Telegraph, has concluded: "pride is the most common sin committed by women... but ranks only at number five for men, who are most prone to lust, followed by gluttony.
The results of the survey, which was based on an analysis of confessional data carried out by 95-year-old Jesuit priest and scholar Roberto Busa, have been echoed by the Vatican.
Monsignor Wojciech Giertych, personal theologian to Pope Benedict XVI and the papal household told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano: "Men and women sin in different ways. When you look at vices from the point of view of the difficulties they create you find that men experiment in a different way from women."
After lust and gluttony, the third most common sin by men is sloth followed by anger, pride and envy with avarice at the bottom. For women, envy was the second most common sin after pride, followed by anger, while sloth was the least likely."
That the priest should have been recording the content of the confessional is perhaps unethical? Can we really hold the saying "as safe as the confessional" now true?
"Last year the Vatican added seven new sins to the existing list: genetic modification; human experimentations: polluting the environment; social injustice; causing poverty; financial gluttony; and taking or selling drugs."
One wonders what the gender differences over the forthcoming years (presumably by someone younger than the 95 year old) will reveal. Will women catch up in the job market thus making it possible to indulge in financial gluttony as much as men? Which sex pollutes the environment more?
Surely the survey proves only not who sins what but who confesses to it?