Copyright © 2006 By Doug Lawrence. All Rights Reserved.
Catechism Of The Catholic Church Reprinted With Permission.
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God’s Truth From The Catechism Of The Catholic Church – cont.
V. THE PROLIFERATION OF SIN
1865 Sin creates a proclivity to sin; it engenders vice by repetition of the same acts. This
results in perverse inclinations which cloud conscience and corrupt the concrete judgment
of good and evil. Thus sin tends to reproduce itself and reinforce itself, but it cannot
destroy the moral sense at its root.
1866 Vices can be classified according to the virtues they oppose, or also be linked to the
capital sins which Christian experience has distinguished, following St. John Cassian and
St. Gregory the Great. They are called "capital" because they engender other sins, other
vices.
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They are pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth or acedia.
1867 The catechetical tradition also recalls that there are "sins that cry to heaven": the
blood of Abel,
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the sin of the Sodomites,
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the cry of the people oppressed in Egypt,
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the cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan,
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injustice to the wage earner.
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1868 Sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by
others when we cooperate in them: by participating directly and voluntarily in them;
- by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them;
- by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so;
- by protecting evil-doers.
1869 Thus sin makes men accomplices of one another and causes concupiscence,
violence, and injustice to reign among them. Sins give rise to social situations and
institutions that are contrary to the divine goodness. "Structures of sin" are the expression
and effect of personal sins. They lead their victims to do evil in their turn. In an analogous
sense, they constitute a "social sin."
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IN BRIEF
1870 "God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all"
(Rom 11:32).
1871 Sin is an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law (St. Augustine,
Faust 22:PL 42, 418). It is an offense against God. It rises up against God in a
disobedience contrary to the obedience of Christ.
1872 Sin is an act contrary to reason. It wounds man's nature and injures human
solidarity.
1873 The root of all sins lies in man's heart. The kinds and the gravity of sins are
determined principally by their objects.
1874 To choose deliberately - that is, both knowing it and willing it - something gravely
contrary to the divine law and to the ultimate end of man is to commit a mortal sin. This
destroys in us the charity without which eternal beatitude is impossible. Unrepented, it
brings eternal death.
1875 Venial sin constitutes a moral disorder that is reparable by charity, which it allows to
subsist in us.
1876 The repetition of sins - even venial ones - engenders vices, among which are the
capital sins.
Consult the Catechism for a list of all the source documents and citations used to prepare this section
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