VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis has ordered a ban on the sale of cigarettes inside the Vatican from next year because of health concerns, a spokesman said on Thursday.
“The motive is very simple: the Holy See cannot be cooperating with a practice that is clearly harming the health of people,” spokesman Greg Burke said in a statement.
He cited World World Health Organization (WHO) statistics that smoking causes more than seven million deaths worldwide every year.
Cigarettes have been sold at a discounted price to Vatican employees and pensioners.
Vatican employees are allowed to buy five cartons of cigarettes a month. Many Italians ask their non-smoking friends who work in the Vatican to buy cigarettes for them because they cost much less than in Italy, where they are subject to heavy taxes.
Burke acknowledged that the sale of cigarettes has been a source of revenue for the Holy See, adding, “However, no profit can be legitimate if it is costing people their lives.”
The spokesman said the sale of large cigars would continue at least for the time being because the smoke is not inhaled.
The Vatican, a tiny walled city-state surrounded by Rome, is one of the few states to ban smoking. Bhutan, where smoking is deemed bad for one’s karma, banned the sale of tobacco in 2005.
Holy Smokes! Vatican bans sale of cigarettes
Holy Smokes! Vatican bans sale of cigarettes
Dutch couple’s marriage annulled due to ChatGPT speech
- The pair said “I do” and the officiant declared them “not only husband and wife, but above all a team”
- The judge found that they had not actually sworn to fulfil their marriage duties
AMSTERDAM: A Dutch couple had their marriage annulled after the person officiating used a ChatGPT-generated speech that was intended to be playful but failed to meet legal requirements, according to a court ruling published this week.
The pair from the city of Zwolle, whose names were redacted from the January 5 decision under Dutch privacy rules, argued that they had intended to marry regardless of whether the right wording was used when they took their vows.
According to the decision, the person officiating their ceremony last April 19 asked whether they would “continue supporting each other, teasing each other and embracing each other, even when life gets difficult.”
The pair said “I do” and the officiant declared them “not only husband and wife, but above all a team, a crazy couple, each other’s love and home base.”
But the judge found that they had not actually sworn to fulfil their marriage duties — something that is required under Dutch law.
“The court understands that the date in the marriage deed is important to the man and woman, but cannot ignore what the law says.” It ordered the marriage removed from the Zwolle city registry.
