Thou shall not pollute

Theft, adultery, murder and now: pollution.

In a list of modern sins handed down from The Vatican last week, pollution found its place next to greed and gluttony. Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, the second-most-powerful man in Vatican City (after Pope Benedict XVI), claimed pollution, drugs and human gene mutilation as modern evils.

Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano published the “new” sins after a weeklong seminar training church officials to encourage confession.

The announcement is another step the Roman Catholic Church is taking to become more eco-conscious. Last summer, the Los Angeles Times reported the church installed 1,000 solar panels on the main auditorium in Vatican City; it also printed prayer books on recycled paper.