Pubdate: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 Source: Australian Associated Press (Australia) Copyright: (1999) Australian Associated Press PRIEST CRITICISES VATICAN INTERVENTION ON HEROIN MELBOURNE - A prominent Jesuit priest today criticised the Vatican's ban on an order of Catholic nuns supervising a heroin injecting room in Sydney. The decision would result in increased deaths among intravenous drug users, Father Peter Norden, Director of Jesuit Social Services in Melbourne, said in a statement. "The Vatican should look more closely at what is happening in the grounds of the Jesuit parish of Kings Cross in Sydney and in many Catholic churches around Australia, where drug addicted individuals are injecting themselves in church toilets and school grounds in unhygienic conditions," Norden said. "Our drug treatment programs in Melbourne are all directed towards moving addicted persons towards rehabilitationa and a drug free lifestyle. "Catholic Church agencies are clearly not intending to give the message that drug addiction can be tolerated." The Sisters of Charity of Australia were yesterday notified by Sydney Catholic Archbishop Edward Clancy that the proposal to operate the injecting room in Kings Cross was unacceptable to the Vatican. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea