Pope says pollution is a sin

"Thou shall not pollute the Earth."

Pollution is one of the new seven deadly sins, according to a statement released by Pope Benedict XVI this week.

In regards to the list, Senior Vatican official Gianfranco Girotti, said an offense against God “is not only stealing or coveting another man’s wife, it is also destroying the environment.”

The list appeared in the Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.

The list of new sins also includes genetic engineering, abortion and pedophilia.

According to a Los Angeles Times article, the Catholic Church is not the only one to take a stand for the environment. The Southern Baptist Convention, this month announced plans to fight global warming, the article reads, and the California diocese of the Episcopal Church recently appointed its first canon for environmental ministry.

Photo: Gregorio Borgia/Associated Press

Solar-powered flowers "dance" in exhibition

Recently, thousands of multi-colored, happy-faced flowers were on display at the entrance of the European Union council headquarters in Brussels .

This was the "Dang'cing Solar Flowers" exhibition, which featured a total of 10,000 solar flowers- flowers powered by solar energy. Its purpose was to raise public awareness on energy conservation issues.

The top picture shows a man as he places one of the solar flowers for the exhibition, which was organized by the Slovenian Presidency for the 50th Jubilee of the Treaty of Rome and the 20th Jubilee of "Sustainable Development."

Meanwhile, the picture on the bottom shows a man as he walks by the "field" of solar flowers late in the afternoon, when the flowers started lighting up by using the energy obtained from the sun during the day. As you can see, some of the flowers in the picture seem blurry, but that's only because they also shook around as if they were dancing using their stored solar power, creating an eye-catching display of light, color and movement.