Vatican document is a monumental own goal

THE publication of ‘Normae de Gravioribus Delictis’ by the Vatican has rightly caused consternation in the implied equivalence of women’s ordination, concelebrating the eucharist with Protestants and the crime of paedophilia.

One might be inclined to accept no such equivalence and the resulting hurt was intended by this bizarre juxtaposition were it not for another little reported section of the document which seems to have slipped in under the radar and demonstrates that this was no aberration.

Article 3 of the document lists “the more grave delicts against the sanctity of the most Holy Sacrifice and Sacrament of the Eucharist”. Under this heading, and thus in the same category, are listed: