A Report On Wine Consumption At The Vatican

According to a report, this pope said that "'[w]ater is necessary to live, but wine expresses the abundance of the feast and the joy of the celebration.  And a wedding party which lacks wine--the newlyweds feel ashamed of this. Imagine finishing a wedding party drinking tea--it would be shameful!  There is no celebration without wine!"' [1]

Surrounded by the wealth and comfort of his abode, the Vatican, the pope had forgotten to add to his drivel these words: "There is no wine without money!"

What he had allegedly said implies that those poor, shameful newlyweds who cannot afford a wedding ceremony, let alone a wedding party with wine for the guests, can have no celebration and no joy.  What an elitist pope!

The report continued to state that the "Vatican City, with a population of just 842 people, has the highest per capita wine consumption in the world, according to the California Wine Institute, an American organization that tracks such trends.  They found that each Vatican City resident consumes an average of 74 liters of wine annually, which is twice the per capita consumption in the rest of Italy and seven times the per capita consumption in the United States." [2]

To be fair, the consumption of alcoholic beverages in the United States is not limited to wine and there is no indication that in addition to wine, kegs of beers and liters of hard liquor are also being consumed by the 842 Vatican residents annually.  Nonetheless, even if the 842 individuals at the Vatican consumes only wine and no other alcoholic beverage, 74 liters of wine drunk per person per year is still excessive.

Can the Vatican, a symbol of poverty and holy poverty for the entire world, be committing one of the seven deadly sins called gluttony? [3]  This blogger is not surprised if that is the case since many of those who served and are still serving as priests had, and may still very well be, committing another one of the seven deadly sins called lust by breaking their vows of chastity.  And of course there is pride, another one of the seven deadly sins that many priests and nuns commit. Then there are the rest, greed, anger, envy and sloth.  They are so common that it is difficult for a sinner to avoid them all.

Perhaps it is the inability of those in the Vatican to avoid all seven deadly sins at all times that they would need to commit the one that would allow them to be in denial of the rest by drinking wine (and eating) excessively, like a glutton.


[1] http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/03/vatican-priests-nuns-are-drowning-in-wine.html
[2] Ibid.
[3] http://www.catholicbible101.com/7deadlysins.htm