Fourteen?

"Peter urged us to live our lives in a Holy way so that we may speed up Christ's return. To do that we need to know what sin is, but more importantly we need to know and seek the heart of God. To make it a list of dos and don'ts, simply returns us to bondage and we lose the freedom we found in Christ. But we also can not let the world determine right and wrong. God sets the standard of Holiness, not man."

In the past hour, I have been mentally struggling with the recent Vatican release of seven additional so-called 'deadly' or 'mortal' sins. While struggling with how I feel about it, a great friend spiritual confidant pointed out that "Aren't all sins deadly?" That, in addition to the above statement from Brent over at LeaveThe99, have really helped me sort through it. The new list includes:

• Environmental Pollution
• Genetic Manipulation
• Accumulating Excessive Wealth
• Inflicting Poverty
• Drug Trafficking and Consumption
• Morally Debatable Experiments
• Violation of Fundamental Human Rights

As far as the original seven go, (Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride) I can see the biblical support for these, regardless of my mixed emotions when it comes to dogmatic lists of sins. However, with the additional seven, I feel like they are all either too broad, too specific, or too political. Regardless, they do not appear to be able to withstand another thousand years.

What do you all think about this? Why did they release seven more? Did the others finally expire after nearly a thousand years? Do we really need a pope to tell us what a sin is?