Devout accepting empty temple? That's pathetic (7)
I believe the answer is:
piteous
'pathetic' is the definition.
('piteous' can be a synonym of 'pathetic')
'devout accepting empty temple?' is the wordplay.
'devout' becomes 'pious' ('pious' can be a synonym of 'devout').
'accepting' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'empty' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'temple' with its centre taken out is 'te'.
'pious' placed around 'te' is 'PITEOUS'.
'that's' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for piteous that I've seen before include "Arousing sorrow and compassion" , "Deserving compassion" , "Deserving sympathy" , "Woeful" , "Heart-rending" .)