Cardinal Sin is a funny name - almost as funny as Kevin de Cock or Sir Jock Stirrup. He's dead now. It looks as if the Seven Deadly Sins are also dying, to be replaced with Seven Unhelpful Behaviour Patterns. From The Telegraph:

 The seven, which include polluting the environment, were announced by Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti, a close ally of the Pope and the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, one of the Roman Curia's main court.

The "sins of yesteryear" - sloth, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, wrath and pride - have a "rather individualistic dimension", he told the Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper.

The new seven deadly, or mortal, sins are designed to make worshippers realise that their vices have an effect on others as well.

"The sins of today have a social resonance as well as an individual one," said Mgr Girotti. "In effect, it is more important than ever to pay attention to your sins."

According to Roman Catholic doctrine, mortal sins are a "grave violation of God's law" and bring about "eternal death" if unrepented by the act of confession.

They are far more serious than venial sins, which impede a soul's progress in the exercise of virtue and moral good.

Mgr Girotti said genetic modification, carrying out experiments on humans, polluting the environment, causing social injustice, causing poverty, becoming obscenely wealthy and taking drugs were all mortal sins.

"Causing social injustice"? Call that a sin? Mind you, I had problems with the original Seven Deadlies. Envy and avarice are nasty, but pride, lust  and wrath have their place. Gluttony is good, and sloth is almost a virtue. If you don't believe me, think of their opposites; think of a meddling, nagging picky-eater.

The Telegraph leader is not impressed by these new-fangled sins:

Some priests give the impression of having missed their vocation as therapists, social workers or eco-warriors. One such is Mgr Gianfranco Girotti, the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, who has drawn up a new version of the Seven Deadly Sins: accumulating excessive wealth, taking drugs, polluting the environment. His list reads like a sixth-form essay.

The original Seven Deadly Sins have haunted our conscience for centuries. They gave us Dante's Inferno and Bosch's hellish visions. More recently, they formed the basis of an eerie film starring Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey.

Who would want to do the same with the Vatican's milk-and-water peccadilloes? Allow us to suggest our own list of Seven Vices Best Avoided in Ecclesiastical Pronouncements: prissiness, moralising, over-familiarity, self-righteousness, babyishness, cant and, above all, banality.