Men are more likely to commit lustful sins while women are led down the path of pride, according to a Vatican report carried out by the Pope's personal theologian.Monsignor Wojciech Giertych made his observations in the Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano headlined: 'The unsuspecting resources of weakness.'
Monsignor Giertych wrote: 'When one looks at capital sins not from the view of their opposition to grace but at the difficulty they create, it is clear that men experience them differently from women.
'For women the most dangerous is pride and then envy, anger, lust, gluttony and the last is slothfulness.'
The report did not make clear how he arrived at his conclusions and tonight Polish-born Monsignor Giertych - who lived in England for many years before moving to Rome - could not be contacted.
He did add that his own observations had confirmed this and wrote: 'In convents sisters often live enviously of little things but they all go to the chapel to sing vespers.
'Brothers however are not interested in one and other, they are not jealous but when the bell rings only a few participate in common prayer.'
Monsignor Giertych added: 'From the point of view of social consequences or for complications in personal lives, sins against chastity are the most dangerous.'
He went on:'However people interpret things differently - for some sexual pleasure is more important while for others it is riches and power.
'Different cultures generate different habits but human nature is the same.'
Italian news reports that picked up on the article noted that the article had been published while the Vatican's Apostolic Penitentiary (the department that deals with sin and confessions) had revealed numbers going to confession had dropped.
In a report the Penitentiary said that 30 per cent of Catholics found it unnecessary to confess, 10 per cent found it an obstacle in their dialogue with God, while 20 per cent found it difficult to talk about their sins.
Theologian Gianni Gennari told La Stampa newspaper: 'The differences in character between men and women have been traced through the centuries.
'Above all when it comes to sexual sins - it is dangerous to set up a list that is perhaps more psychological than confessional.
'Confusing the sacrament of confession with a psychoanalyst couch is as absurd as making theological observations on this subject.
'In fact if, as Saint Paul taught, in Christ there is no man or woman, Jew or Greek, then it means that in front of God all sins are the same, without making any distinction between who commits them.'
Monsignor Giertych's list of seven deadly sins or capital vices were drawn up by the early Christian church to instruct followers.
The Catholic Church teaches that mortal sins, which carry the threat of eternal damnation, can only be forgiven by confession and penance - although they are not actually listed anywhere in the Bible.
However in the Middle Ages Pope Gregory I drew them into the Catholic Church's teachings and they were also spread widely by Dante in The Inferno.
Last year the Vatican added seven new capital sins which are genetic modification, human experimentations, polluting the environment, social injustice, causing poverty, financial gluttony and and taking or selling drugs.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce
(Source: DMUK)