The Vatican today published a 35-page document detailing proper road use and the rules of car ownership. The centerpiece of the “Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road” is a collection of 10 “commandments” for drivers.
“Cars tend to bring out the ‘primitive’ side of human beings, thereby producing rather unpleasant results,” the document reads. “Cars particularly lend themselves to being used by their owners to show off, and as a means for outshining other people and arousing a feeling of envy.”
Drivers must avoid behaving in an “unsatisfactory and even barely human manner” when driving. They must also refrain from “unbalanced behavior … impoliteness, rude gestures, cursing, [and] blasphemy.”
The Ten Commandments for road use are as follows:
- 1. You shall not kill.
- 2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.
- 3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.
- 4. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents.
- 5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.
- 6. Charitably convince the young and not-so-young not to drive when they are not in a fit condition to do so.
- 7. Support the families of accident victims.
- 8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.
- 9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.
- 10. Feel responsible towards others.
