New Vatican Catechism Updates 1566 Version : Religion: Drunk driving and tax evasion join abortion and homosexuality on list of taboos.

The Vatican officially unveiled a new edition of its “Universal Catechism” for the world’s nearly 1 billion Catholics on Monday--the first major overhaul since the 16th Century of a basic textbook of religious instruction.

Six years in the writing, with the collaboration of more than 3,000 Roman Catholic bishops, the catechism--made available Monday only in French--affirms the basic tenets of the church in a 20th-Century context and with modern language.

Heaven, for example, is defined as “the ultimate end and the realization of the deepest hopes of man, the state of supreme and definitive happiness.”

Venerable injunctions against sex outside marriage, artificial birth control, divorce and homosexuality are joined by newfangled thou-shalt-nots deploring the likes of drunk driving, tax evasion and abuses in genetic engineering.

Speaking to pilgrims Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, Pope John Paul II, who ordered the new catechism, called it an “instrument to carry out the renewed self-conscience of the church, strongly anchored to the one and unchangeable truth of the Gospel but also attentive to the signs of the times.” Updating and reworking the catechism is “an event of historic importance,” in the papal view.

The new edition of the almost 700-page book that will eventually be used to instruct Catholics everywhere was formally presented in Paris on Monday. Official presentation to the Pope, who approved the final draft in June, will occur in Rome next month.

The new catechism became available first in French because that was the working language of the prelates who wrote it. They had tried to do it in Latin, the official language of the church--and of the 1566 edition--but failed.

Translation of such a landmark document must be extraordinarily precise, and other official versions are not yet ready. Official Italian and Spanish versions are promised by year’s end.

Officials among the 275 U.S. Catholic bishops, meeting this week in Washington for their fall conference, said they do not expect to see the final English translation of the work until later; Vatican officials estimated it might be next spring.

Based on earlier drafts, the historic text was getting mixed reviews. One knowledgeable theologian, who asked to remain anonymous, said in Washington that the new catechism failed to offer “an overarching moral vision.”

“It remains a morality based on authority rather than insight and understanding,” he said. Thus, for example, there are specific prohibitions against corruption in business and using astrologers. The theologian added that the language was reminiscent of the church’s approach before the reforms of Vatican II--called by the late Pope John XXIII--from 1962 to 1965.

But others said the catechism seeks to make historical church doctrine relevant to Catholics as the 21st Century approaches.

“In every age, the church is challenged with the responsibility of relating its doctrinal tradition to the contemporary situation,” said Father John E. Pollard, the U.S. bishops’ representative on the new catechism. “If the content of the catechism includes illustrations of the moral principles that are more contemporary than the Council of Trent’s illustrations” issued in 1566, Pollard said, “I think it will be helpful to our people.”

Derived from a call for a modern codification of their faith by delegates to the Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960s, the new edition relies, like its predecessors, on the Gospels, Old Testament teachings such as the Ten Commandments and the subsequent evolution of church dogma.

The new work does not modify doctrine as much as relate longstanding teachings to current times. Murder, adultery and idolatry are sins, as ever, but so is euthanasia, racism and genocide, along with bribery, fraud and corruption.

Catholics are told they should exercise their right to vote, that they should not discriminate against the handicapped and that they have a responsibility to help care for immigrants.

In one of the major modifications, Vatican specialists said, the new catechism is particularly firm in repudiating the idea that Jews “are collectively responsible for the death of Christ.”

In another teaching that also closely parallels the Pope’s oft-expressed views, Catholics are instructed in the new manual to respect positive aspects of other religions.

The church’s anti-abortion stand is firmly writ in the instruction against abortion. “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. . . . Cooperation in an abortion is punished by . . . excommunication,” the new catechism says.

In its new manual, the church condemns homosexuality as “dissolute, contrary to natural law,” but it orders Catholics to receive homosexuals “with respect, compassion and delicacy,” abjuring discrimination against them.

Besides warning Catholics away from horoscopes, the new catechism urges them to avoid mediums and astrologers and lists drug trafficking and drug abuse as sins. Prostitution and suicide remain sins in the new catechism, which nevertheless acknowledges that desperation may drive people to them.

Catholics who fail to observe the teachings of their new catechism risk hell, “the state of definitive auto-exclusion of Communion with God and with the blessed.”

Times religion writer Larry B. Stammer in Washington contributed to this report.

Catholicism’s New Textbook

The new catechism is primarily aimed at bishops, priests and religion instructors to guide the world’s 995 million Roman Catholics. Among its many pronouncements:

Abortion: Those who have had an abortion or helped to carry them out may be subject to excommunication.

Sex: Married couples do not sin by seeking pleasure in sex, but they should do so with moderation.

Female priests: Women priests are banned because Christ chose men as his apostles.

Homosexuality: Homosexual acts are an intrinsic disorder against nature. Homosexuals are urged to abstain from sex, but they should be treated with compassion and respect.

Prostitution and suicide: Prostitution and suicide remain sins, but people may be driven to them by desperation or cruel circumstances.

Stealing: Fiscal fraud, speculation, paying low wages, carrying out poor-quality work or violating a just contract are all considered theft.

Transplants: Transplanting of organs is acceptable only when the donor consents.

Death penalty: Does not rule out but advises against it.

Source: Times wire services