Seems like the science behind secondhand smoke is about as solid as the nuclear winter science.

After several years of work, our paper was published by the BMJ on May 17th, 2003, addressing the same question Takeshi Hirayama had posed 22 years earlier in the same journal: whether living with a spouse who smokes increases the mortality risk of a spouse who never smoked. Based on our analysis of the American Cancer Society’s data on over 100,000 California residents, we concluded that non-smokers who lived with a smoker did not have elevated mortality and, therefore, the data did “not support a causal relation between environmental tobacco smoke and tobacco related mortality.

Labels: politics, smoking

But we do know that there are dozens of such complaints, that a preliminary inquiry by the Jesuit order found them credible, that the order placed restrictions on his ministry, and that in May 2020 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a decree of excommunication against Rupnik for absolving an accomplice in an immoral act.

But then the excommunication was lifted almost immediately, which could not have happened without the approval of Pope Francis, who had chosen Father Rupnik to preach one of the Lenten Sermons that year. Notwithstanding orders from his Jesuit superiors that he should not lead spiritual exercises, Rupnik continued to do exactly that, preaching and leading retreats in and around Rome. His artwork was prominently displayed at Vatican events. None of the charges against Rupnik, and of course none of the disciplinary restrictions placed on him, were made public.

I'm reminded of Caesar calling for mercy for Cataline, not because he had a merciful orientation towards criminal justice, but becuase he was planning on making his own attempt to overthrow the Republic and wanted a backup plan.

Labels: catholic