Pope Francis bans sale of cigarettes at the Vatican on health grounds (INDIPENDENT)
發佈日期： 2018-03-21
教宗方濟各（Pope Francis）於本月9日，頒佈聖令禁止於梵諦岡境內販賣菸品，梵諦岡發言人Greg Burke，引用世界衛生組織（WHO）的統計資料，說明每年全球因吸菸而死的人數已經超過700萬人。並表示：「我們動機非常簡單，教廷不能做出明顯損害人民健康行為。
因梵諦岡境內的菸品售價較義大利地區更便宜，故許多人受朋友請託，於梵諦岡地區代購菸品，根據《美聯社》（Associated Press）報導，禁止販售香菸將導致梵蒂岡每年收入減少1000萬歐元左右（約新台幣3億5000萬元）。
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 Health Organisation (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.
