ARTICLE 7 - THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT
You shall not steal.[185]
2401 The seventh commandment forbids unjustly taking or keeping the goods of one's
neighbor and wronging him in any way with respect to his goods. It commands justice
and charity in the care of earthly goods and the fruits of men's labor. For the sake of the
common good, it requires respect for the universal destination of goods and respect for
the right to private property. Christian life strives to order this world's goods to God and
to fraternal charity.
I. THE UNIVERSAL DESTINATION AND THE
PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF GOODS
2402 In the beginning God entrusted the earth and its resources to the common
stewardship of mankind to take care of them, master them by labor, and enjoy their
fruits.[186] The goods of creation are destined for the whole human race. However, the
earth is divided up among men to assure the security of their lives, endangered by
poverty and threatened by violence. The appropriation of property is legitimate for
guaranteeing the freedom and dignity of persons and for helping each of them to meet
his basic needs and the needs of those in his charge. It should allow for a natural
solidarity to develop between men.
2403 The right to private property, acquired or received in a just way, does not do away with
the original gift of the earth to the whole of mankind. The universal destination of goods
remains primordial, even if the promotion of the common good requires respect for the
right to private property and its exercise.
2404 "In his use of things man should regard the external goods he legitimately owns
not merely as exclusive to himself but common to others also, in the sense that they can
benefit others as well as himself."[187] The ownership of any property makes its holder
a steward of Providence, with the task of making it fruitful and communicating its
benefits to others, first of all his family.
2405 Goods of production - material or immaterial - such as land, factories, practical or
artistic skills, oblige their possessors to employ them in ways that will benefit the greatest
number. Those who hold goods for use and consumption should use them with
moderation, reserving the better part for guests, for the sick and the poor.
2406 Political authority has the right and duty to regulate the legitimate exercise of the
right to ownership for the sake of the common good.[188]
II. RESPECT FOR PERSONS AND THEIR
GOODS
2407 In economic matters, respect for human dignity requires the practice of the virtue
of temperance, so as to moderate attachment to this world's goods; the practice of the
virtue of justice, to preserve our neighbor's rights and render him what is his due; and
the practice of solidarity, in accordance with the golden rule and in keeping with the
generosity of the Lord, who "though he was rich, yet for your sake . . . became poor so
that by his poverty, you might become rich."[189]
Respect for the goods of others
2408 The seventh commandment forbids theft, that is, usurping another's property
against the reasonable will of the owner. There is no theft if consent can be presumed or
if refusal is contrary to reason and the universal destination of goods. This is the case in
obvious and urgent necessity when the only way to provide for immediate, essential
needs (food, shelter, clothing . . .) is to put at one's disposal and use the property of
others.[190]
2409 Even if it does not contradict the provisions of civil law, any form of unjustly
taking and keeping the property of others is against the seventh commandment: thus,
deliberate retention of goods lent or of objects lost; business fraud; paying unjust wages;
forcing up prices by taking advantage of the ignorance or hardship of another.[191]
The following are also morally illicit: speculation in which one contrives to manipulate
the price of goods artificially in order to gain an advantage to the detriment of others;
corruption in which one influences the judgment of those who must make decisions
according to law; appropriation and use for private purposes of the common goods of
an enterprise; work poorly done; tax evasion; forgery of checks and invoices; excessive
expenses and waste. Willfully damaging private or public property is contrary to the
moral law and requires reparation.
2410 Promises must be kept and contracts strictly observed to the extent that the
commitments made in them are morally just. A significant part of economic and social
life depends on the honoring of contracts between physical or moral persons -
commercial contracts of purchase or sale, rental or labor contracts. All contracts must be
agreed to and executed in good faith.
2411 Contracts are subject to commutative justice which regulates exchanges between
persons and between institutions in accordance with a strict respect for their rights.
Commutative justice obliges strictly; it requires safeguarding property rights, paying
debts, and fulfilling obligations freely contracted. Without commutative justice, no other
form of justice is possible.
One distinguishes commutative justice from legal justice which concerns what the
citizen owes in fairness to the community, and from distributive justice which regulates
what the community owes its citizens in proportion to their contributions and needs.
2412 In virtue of commutative justice, reparation for injustice committed requires the
restitution of stolen goods to their owner:
Jesus blesses Zacchaeus for his pledge: "If I have defrauded anyone of anything, I
restore it fourfold."[192] Those who, directly or indirectly, have taken possession of the
goods of another, are obliged to make restitution of them, or to return the equivalent in
kind or in money, if the goods have disappeared, as well as the profit or advantages
their owner would have legitimately obtained from them. Likewise, all who in some
manner have taken part in a theft or who have knowingly benefited from it - for
example, those who ordered it, assisted in it, or received the stolen goods - are obliged
to make restitution in proportion to their responsibility and to their share of what was
stolen.
2413 Games of chance (card games, etc.) or wagers are not in themselves contrary to
justice. They become morally unacceptable when they deprive someone of what is
necessary to provide for his needs and those of others. The passion for gambling risks
becoming an enslavement. Unfair wagers and cheating at games constitute grave matter,
unless the damage inflicted is so slight that the one who suffers it cannot reasonably
consider it significant.
2414 The seventh commandment forbids acts or enterprises that for any reason - selfish
or ideological, commercial, or totalitarian - lead to the enslavement of human beings, to
their being bought, sold and exchanged like merchandise, in disregard for their personal
dignity. It is a sin against the dignity of persons and their fundamental rights to reduce
them by violence to their productive value or to a source of profit. St. Paul directed a
Christian master to treat his Christian slave "no longer as a slave but more than a slave,
as a beloved brother, . . . both in the flesh and in the Lord."[193]
Respect for the integrity of creation
2415 The seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals,
like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of past,
present, and future humanity.[194] Use of the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources
of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moral imperatives. Man's dominion
over inanimate and other living beings granted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited
by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including generations to come; it
requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation.[195]
2416 Animals are God's creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By
their mere existence they bless him and give him glory.[196] Thus men owe them
kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or
St. Philip Neri treated animals.
2417 God entrusted animals to the stewardship of those whom he created in his own
image.[197] Hence it is legitimate to use animals for food and clothing. They may be
domesticated to help man in his work and leisure. Medical and scientific
experimentation on animals is a morally acceptable practice if it remains within
reasonable limits and contributes to caring for or saving human lives.
2418 It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. It is
likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of
human misery. One can love animals; one should not direct to them the affection due
only to persons.
III. THE SOCIAL DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH
2419 "Christian revelation . . . promotes deeper understanding of the laws of social
living."[198] The Church receives from the Gospel the full revelation of the truth about
man. When she fulfills her mission of proclaiming the Gospel, she bears witness to man,
in the name of Christ, to his dignity and his vocation to the communion of persons. She
teaches him the demands of justice and peace in conformity with divine wisdom.
2420 The Church makes a moral judgment about economic and social matters, "when
the fundamental rights of the person or the salvation of souls requires it."[199] In the
moral order she bears a mission distinct from that of political authorities: the Church is
concerned with the temporal aspects of the common good because they are ordered to
the sovereign Good, our ultimate end. She strives to inspire right attitudes with respect
to earthly goods and in socio-economic relationships.
2421 The social doctrine of the Church developed in the nineteenth century when the
Gospel encountered modern industrial society with its new structures for the production
of consumer goods, its new concept of society, the state and authority, and its new
forms of labor and ownership. The development of the doctrine of the Church on
economic and social matters attests the permanent value of the Church's teaching at the
same time as it attests the true meaning of her Tradition, always living and active.[200]
2422 The Church's social teaching comprises a body of doctrine, which is articulated as
the Church interprets events in the course of history, with the assistance of the Holy
Spirit, in the light of the whole of what has been revealed by Jesus Christ.[201] This
teaching can be more easily accepted by men of good will, the more the faithful let
themselves be guided by it.
2423 The Church's social teaching proposes principles for reflection; it provides criteria
for judgment; it gives guidelines for action:
Any system in which social relationships are determined entirely by economic factors is
contrary to the nature of the human person and his acts.[202]
2424 A theory that makes profit the exclusive norm and ultimate end of economic
activity is morally unacceptable. The disordered desire for money cannot but produce
perverse effects. It is one of the causes of the many conflicts which disturb the social
order.[203]
A system that "subordinates the basic rights of individuals and of groups to the
collective organization of production" is contrary to human dignity.[204] Every practice
that reduces persons to nothing more than a means of profit enslaves man, leads to
idolizing money, and contributes to the spread of atheism. "You cannot serve God and
mammon."[205]
2425 The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in
modem times with "communism" or "socialism." She has likewise refused to accept, in
the practice of "capitalism," individualism and the absolute primacy of the law of the
marketplace over human labor.[206] Regulating the economy solely by centralized
planning perverts the basis of social bonds; regulating it solely by the law of the
marketplace fails social justice, for "there are many human needs which cannot be
satisfied by the market."[207] Reasonable regulation of the marketplace and economic
initiatives, in keeping with a just hierarchy of values and a view to the common good, is
to be commended.
IV. ECONOMIC ACTIVITY AND SOCIAL
JUSTICE
2426 The development of economic activity and growth in production are meant to
provide for the needs of human beings. Economic life is not meant solely to multiply
goods produced and increase profit or power; it is ordered first of all to the service of
persons, of the whole man, and of the entire human community. Economic activity,
conducted according to its own proper methods, is to be exercised within the limits of
the moral order, in keeping with social justice so as to correspond to God's plan for
man.[208]
2427 Human work proceeds directly from persons created in the image of God and
called to prolong the work of creation by subduing the earth, both with and for one
another.[209] Hence work is a duty: "If any one will not work, let him not eat."[210]
Work honors the Creator's gifts and the talents received from him. It can also be
redemptive. By enduring the hardship of work[211] in union with Jesus, the carpenter of
Nazareth and the one crucified on Calvary, man collaborates in a certain fashion with
the Son of God in his redemptive work. He shows himself to be a disciple of Christ by
carrying the cross, daily, in the work he is called to accomplish.[212] Work can be a
means of sanctification and a way of animating earthly realities with the Spirit of Christ.
2428 In work, the person exercises and fulfills in part the potential inscribed in his
nature. The primordial value of labor stems from man himself, its author and its
beneficiary. Work is for man, not man for work.[213]
Everyone should be able to draw from work the means of providing for his life and
that of his family, and of serving the human community.
2429 Everyone has the right of economic initiative; everyone should make legitimate use
of his talents to contribute to the abundance that will benefit all and to harvest the just
fruits of his labor. He should seek to observe regulations issued by legitimate authority
for the sake of the common good.[214]
2430 Economic life brings into play different interests, often opposed to one another.
This explains why the conflicts that characterize it arise.[215] Efforts should be made to
reduce these conflicts by negotiation that respects the rights and duties of each social
partner: those responsible for business enterprises, representatives of wage- earners (for
example, trade unions), and public authorities when appropriate.
2431 The responsibility of the state. "Economic activity, especially the activity of a
market economy, cannot be conducted in an institutional, juridical, or political vacuum.
On the contrary, it presupposes sure guarantees of individual freedom and private
property, as well as a stable currency and efficient public services. Hence the principal
task of the state is to guarantee this security, so that those who work and produce can
enjoy the fruits of their labors and thus feel encouraged to work efficiently and
honestly.... Another task of the state is that of overseeing and directing the exercise of
human rights in the economic sector. However, primary responsibility in this area
belongs not to the state but to individuals and to the various groups and associations
which make up society."[216]
2432 Those responsible for business enterprises are responsible to society for the
economic and ecological effects of their operations.[217] They have an obligation to
consider the good of persons and not only the increase of profits. Profits are necessary,
however. They make possible the investments that ensure the future of a business and
they guarantee employment.
2433 Access to employment and to professions must be open to all without unjust
discrimination: men and women, healthy and disabled, natives and immigrants.[218] For
its part society should, according to circumstances, help citizens find work and
employment.[219]
2434 A just wage is the legitimate fruit of work. To refuse or withhold it can be a grave
injustice.[220] In determining fair pay both the needs and the contributions of each
person must be taken into account. "Remuneration for work should guarantee man the
opportunity to provide a dignified livelihood for himself and his family on the material,
social, cultural and spiritual level, taking into account the role and the productivity of
each, the state of the business, and the common good."[221] Agreement between the
parties is not sufficient to justify morally the amount to be received in wages.
2435 Recourse to a strike is morally legitimate when it cannot be avoided, or at least
when it is necessary to obtain a proportionate benefit. It becomes morally unacceptable
when accompanied by violence, or when objectives are included that are not directly
linked to working conditions or are contrary to the common good.<P. Unemployment
almost always wounds its victim's dignity and threatens the equilibrium of his life.
Besides the harm done to him personally, it entails many risks for his family.[222]
V. JUSTICE AND SOLIDARITY AMONG
NATIONS
2437 On the international level, inequality of resources and economic capability is such
that it creates a real "gap" between nations.[223] On the one side there are those nations
possessing and developing the means of growth and, on the other, those accumulating
debts.
2438 Various causes of a religious, political, economic, and financial nature today give
"the social question a worldwide dimension."[224] There must be solidarity among
nations which are already politically interdependent. It is even more essential when it is a
question of dismantling the "perverse mechanisms" that impede the development of the
less advanced countries.[225] In place of abusive if not usurious financial systems,
iniquitous commercial relations among nations, and the arms race, there must be
substituted a common effort to mobilize resources toward objectives of moral, cultural,
and economic development, "redefining the priorities and hierarchies of values."[226]
2439 Rich nations have a grave moral responsibility toward those which are unable to
ensure the means of their development by themselves or have been prevented from
doing so by tragic historical events. It is a duty in solidarity and charity; it is also an
obligation in justice if the prosperity of the rich nations has come from resources that
have not been paid for fairly.
2440 Direct aid is an appropriate response to immediate, extraordinary needs caused by
natural catastrophes, epidemics, and the like. But it does not suffice to repair the grave
damage resulting from destitution or to provide a lasting solution to a country's needs. It
is also necessary to reform international economic and financial institutions so that they
will better promote equitable relationships with less advanced countries.[227] The
efforts of poor countries working for growth and liberation must be supported.[228]
This doctrine must be applied especially in the area of agricultural labor. Peasants,
especially in the Third World, form the overwhelming majority of the poor.
2441 An increased sense of God and increased self-awareness are fundamental to any
full development of human society. This development multiplies material goods and
puts them at the service of the person and his freedom. It reduces dire poverty and
economic exploitation. It makes for growth in respect for cultural identities and
openness to the transcendent.[229]
2442 It is not the role of the Pastors of the Church to intervene directly in the political
structuring and organization of social life. This task is part of the vocation of the lay
faithful, acting on their own initiative with their fellow citizens. Social action can assume
various concrete forms. It should always have the common good in view and be in
conformity with the message of the Gospel and the teaching of the Church. It is the role
of the laity "to animate temporal realities with Christian commitment, by which they
show that they are witnesses and agents of peace and justice."[230]
VI. LOVE FOR THE POOR
2443 God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn
away from them: "Give to him who begs from you, do not refuse him who would
borrow from you"; "you received without pay, give without pay."[231] It is by what they
have done for the poor that Jesus Christ will recognize his chosen ones.[232] When "the
poor have the good news preached to them," it is the sign of Christ's presence.[233]
2444 "The Church's love for the poor . . . is a part of her constant tradition." This love is
inspired by the Gospel of the Beatitudes, of the poverty of Jesus, and of his concern for
the poor.[234] Love for the poor is even one of the motives for the duty of working so
as to "be able to give to those in need."[235] It extends not only to material poverty but
also to the many forms of cultural and religious poverty.[236]
2445 Love for the poor is incompatible with immoderate love of riches or their selfish
use:
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your
riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted,
and their rust will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid
up treasure for the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields,
which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the
ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you
have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have killed
the righteous man; he does not resist you.[237]
2446 St. John Chrysostom vigorously recalls this: "Not to enable the poor to share in
our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not
ours, but theirs."[238] "The demands of justice must be satisfied first of all; that which is
already due in justice is not to be offered as a gift of charity":[239]
When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours.
More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice.[240]
2447 The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our
neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities.[241] Instructing, advising, consoling,
comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently.
The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the
homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the
dead.[242] Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to
fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God:[243]
He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none and he who has food must
do likewise.[244] But give for alms those things which are within; and behold,
everything is clean for you.[245] If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food,
and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them
the things needed for the body, what does it profit?[246]
2448 "In its various forms - material deprivation, unjust oppression, physical and
psychological illness and death - human misery is the obvious sign of the inherited
condition of frailty and need for salvation in which man finds himself as a consequence
of original sin. This misery elicited the compassion of Christ the Savior, who willingly
took it upon himself and identified himself with the least of his brethren. Hence, those
who are oppressed by poverty are the object of a preferential love on the part of the
Church which, since her origin and in spite of the failings of many of her members, has
not ceased to work for their relief, defense, and liberation through numerous works of
charity which remain indispensable always and everywhere."[247]
2449 Beginning with the Old Testament, all kinds of juridical measures (the jubilee year
of forgiveness of debts, prohibition of loans at interest and the keeping of collateral, the
obligation to tithe, the daily payment of the day-laborer, the right to glean vines and
fields) answer the exhortation of Deuteronomy: "For the poor will never cease out of
the land; therefore I command you, 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to
the needy and to the poor in the land.'"[248] Jesus makes these words his own: "The
poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me."[249] In so doing he
does not soften the vehemence of former oracles against "buying the poor for silver and
the needy for a pair of sandals . . .," but invites us to recognize his own presence in the
poor who are his brethren:[250]
When her mother reproached her for caring for the poor and the sick at home, St. Rose
of Lima said to her: "When we serve the poor and the sick, we serve Jesus. We must
not fail to help our neighbors, because in them we serve Jesus.[251]
IN BRIEF
2450 "You shall not steal" (Ex 20:15; Deut 5:19). "Neither thieves, nor the greedy . . .,
nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 6:10).
2451 The seventh commandment enjoins the practice of justice and charity in the
administration of earthly goods and the fruits of men's labor.
2452 The goods of creation are destined for the entire human race. The right to private
property does not abolish the universal destination of goods.
2453 The seventh commandment forbids theft. Theft is the usurpation of another's
goods against the reasonable will of the owner.
2454 Every manner of taking and using another's property unjustly is contrary to the
seventh commandment. The injustice committed requires reparation. Commutative
justice requires the restitution of stolen goods.
2455 The moral law forbids acts which, for commercial or totalitarian purposes, lead to
the enslavement of human beings, or to their being bought, sold or exchanged like
merchandise.
2456 The dominion granted by the Creator over the mineral, vegetable, and animal
resources of the universe cannot be separated from respect for moral obligations,
including those toward generations to come.
2457 Animals are entrusted to man's stewardship; he must show them kindness. They
may be used to serve the just satisfaction of man's needs.
2458 The Church makes a judgment about economic and social matters when the
fundamental rights of the person or the salvation of souls requires *. She is concerned
with the temporal common good of men because they are ordered to the sovereign
Good, their ultimate end.
2459 Man is himself the author, center, and goal of all economic and social life. The
decisive point of the social question is that goods created by God for everyone should in
fact reach everyone in accordance with justice and with the help of charity.
2460 The primordial value of labor stems from man himself, its author and beneficiary.
By means of his labor man participates in the work of creation. Work united to Christ
can be redemptive.
2461 True development concerns the whole man. It is concerned with increasing each
person's ability to respond to his vocation and hence to God's call (cf. CA 29).
2462 Giving alms to the poor is a witness to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice
pleasing to God.
2463 How can we not recognize Lazarus, the hungry beggar in the parable (cf. Lk 17:19-
31), in the multitude of human beings without bread, a roof or a place to stay? How can
we fail to hear Jesus: "As you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me"
(Mt 25:45)?
ARTICLE 8 - THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.[252]
It was said to the men of old, "You shall not swear falsely,
but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn."[253]
2464 The eighth commandment forbids misrepresenting the truth in our relations with
others. This moral prescription flows from the vocation of the holy people to bear
witness to their God who is the truth and wills the truth. Offenses against the truth
express by word or deed a refusal to commit oneself to moral uprightness: they are
fundamental infidelities to God and, in this sense, they undermine the foundations of
the covenant.
I. LIVING IN THE TRUTH
2465 The Old Testament attests that God is the source of all truth. His Word is truth.
His Law is truth. His "faithfulness endures to all generations."[254] Since God is "true,"
the members of his people are called to live in the truth.[255]
2466 In Jesus Christ, the whole of God's truth has been made manifest. "Full of grace
and truth," he came as the "light of the world," he is the Truth.[256] "Whoever believes
in me may not remain in darkness."[257] The disciple of Jesus continues in his word so
as to know "the truth [that] will make you free" and that sanctifies.[258] To follow Jesus
is to live in "the Spirit of truth," whom the Father sends in his name and who leads "into
all the truth."[259] To his disciples Jesus teaches the unconditional love of truth: "Let
what you say be simply 'Yes or No.'"[260]
2467 Man tends by nature toward the truth. He is obliged to honor and bear witness to
it: "It is in accordance with their dignity that all men, because they are persons . . . are
both impelled by their nature and bound by a moral obligation to seek the truth,
especially religious truth. They are also bound to adhere to the truth once they come to
know it and direct their whole lives in accordance with the demands of truth."[261]
2468 Truth as uprightness in human action and speech is called truthfulness, sincerity, or
candor. Truth or truthfulness is the virtue which consists in showing oneself true in
deeds and truthful in words, and in guarding against duplicity, dissimulation, and
hypocrisy.
2469 "Men could not live with one another if there were not mutual confidence that
they were being truthful to one another."[262] The virtue of truth gives another his just
due. Truthfulness keeps to the just mean between what ought to be expressed and what
ought to be kept secret: it entails honesty and discretion. In justice, "as a matter of
honor, one man owes it to another to manifest the truth."[263]
2470 The disciple of Christ consents to "live in the truth," that is, in the simplicity of a
life in conformity with the Lord's example, abiding in his truth. "If we say we have
fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the
truth."[264]
II. TO BEAR WITNESS TO THE TRUTH
2471 Before Pilate, Christ proclaims that he "has come into the world, to bear witness to
the truth."[265] The Christian is not to "be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord."[266]
In situations that require witness to the faith, the Christian must profess it without
equivocation, after the example of St. Paul before his judges. We must keep "a clear
conscience toward God and toward men."[267]
2472 The duty of Christians to take part in the life of the Church impels them to act as
witnesses of the Gospel and of the obligations that flow from it. This witness is a
transmission of the faith in words and deeds. Witness is an act of justice that establishes
the truth or makes it known.[268]
All Christians by the example of their lives and the witness of their word, wherever they
live, have an obligation to manifest the new man which they have put on in Baptism
and to reveal the power of the Holy Spirit by whom they were strengthened at
Confirmation.
2473 Martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith: it means bearing
witness even unto death. The martyr bears witness to Christ who died and rose, to
whom he is united by charity. He bears witness to the truth of the faith and of Christian
doctrine. He endures death through an act of fortitude. "Let me become the food of the
beasts, through whom it will be given me to reach God."[270]
2474 The Church has painstakingly collected the records of those who persevered to the
end in witnessing to their faith. These are the acts of the Martyrs. They form the
archives of truth written in letters of blood:
Neither the pleasures of the world nor the kingdoms of this age will be of any use to
me. It is better for me to die [in order to unite myself] to Christ Jesus than to reign over
the ends of the earth. I seek him who died for us; I desire him who rose for us. My
birth is approaching. . .[271] I bless you for having judged me worthy from this day and
this hour to be counted among your martyrs.... You have kept your promise, God of
faithfulness and truth. For this reason and for everything, I praise you, I bless you, I
glorify you through the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved
Son. Through him, who is with you and the Holy Spirit, may glory be given to you, now
and in the ages to come. Amen.[272]
III. OFFENSES AGAINST TRUTH
2475 Christ's disciples have "put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in
true righteousness and holiness."[273] By "putting away falsehood," they are to "put
away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander."[274]
2476 False witness and perjury. When it is made publicly, a statement contrary to the
truth takes on a particular gravity. In court it becomes false witness.[275] When it is
under oath, it is perjury. Acts such as these contribute to condemnation of the innocent,
exoneration of the guilty, or the increased punishment of the accused.[276] They gravely
compromise the exercise of justice and the fairness of judicial decisions.
2477 Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to
cause them unjust injury.[277] He becomes guilty:
- of rash judgment who, even tacitly, assumes as true, without sufficient foundation, the
moral fault of a neighbor;
- of detraction who, without objectively valid reason, discloses another's faults and
failings to persons who did not know them;[278]
- of calumny who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and
gives occasion for false judgments concerning them.
2478 To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible
his neighbor's thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way:
Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to
another's statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the
other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him
with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the
other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved.[279]
2479 Detraction and calumny destroy the reputation and honor of one's neighbor.
Honor is the social witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a natural right
to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect. Thus, detraction and calumny
offend against the virtues of justice and charity.
2480 Every word or attitude is forbidden which by flattery, adulation, or complaisance
encourages and confirms another in malicious acts and perverse conduct. Adulation is a
grave fault if it makes one an accomplice in another's vices or grave sins. Neither the
desire to be of service nor friendship justifies duplicitous speech. Adulation is a venial
sin when it only seeks to be agreeable, to avoid evil, to meet a need, or to obtain
legitimate advantages.
2481 Boasting or bragging is an offense against truth. So is irony aimed at disparaging
someone by maliciously caricaturing some aspect of his behavior.
2482 "A lie consists in speaking a falsehood with the intention of deceiving."[280] The
Lord denounces lying as the work of the devil: "You are of your father the devil, . . .
there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a
liar and the father of lies."[281]
2483 Lying is the most direct offense against the truth. To lie is to speak or act against
the truth in order to lead someone into error. By injuring man's relation to truth and to
his neighbor, a lie offends against the fundamental relation of man and of his word to
the Lord.
2484 The gravity of a lie is measured against the nature of the truth it deforms, the
circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered by its victims. If
a lie in itself only constitutes a venial sin, it becomes mortal when it does grave injury to
the virtues of justice and charity.
2485 By its very nature, lying is to be condemned. It is a profanation of speech, whereas
the purpose of speech is to communicate known truth to others. The deliberate
intention of leading a neighbor into error by saying things contrary to the truth
constitutes a failure in justice and charity. The culpability is greater when the intention of
deceiving entails the risk of deadly consequences for those who are led astray.
2486 Since it violates the virtue of truthfulness, a lie does real violence to another. It
affects his ability to know, which is a condition of every judgment and decision. It
contains the seed of discord and all consequent evils. Lying is destructive of society; it
undermines trust among men and tears apart the fabric of social relationships.
2487 Every offense committed against justice and truth entails the duty of reparation,
even if its author has been forgiven. When it is impossible publicly to make reparation
for a wrong, it must be made secretly. If someone who has suffered harm cannot be
directly compensated, he must be given moral satisfaction in the name of charity. This
duty of reparation also concerns offenses against another's reputation. This reparation,
moral and sometimes material, must be evaluated in terms of the extent of the damage
inflicted. It obliges in conscience.
IV. RESPECT FOR THE TRUTH
2488 The right to the communication of the truth is not unconditional. Everyone must
conform his life to the Gospel precept of fraternal love. This requires us in concrete
situations to judge whether or not it is appropriate to reveal the truth to someone who
asks for it.
2489 Charity and respect for the truth should dictate the response to every request for
information or communication. The good and safety of others, respect for privacy, and
the common good are sufficient reasons for being silent about what ought not be known
or for making use of a discreet language. The duty to avoid scandal often commands
strict discretion. No one is bound to reveal the truth to someone who does not have the
right to know it.[282]
2490 The secret of the sacrament of reconciliation is sacred, and cannot be violated
under any pretext. "The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore, it is a crime for a
confessor in any way to betray a penitent by word or in any other manner or for any
reason."[283]
2491 Professional secrets - for example, those of political office holders, soldiers,
physicians, and lawyers - or confidential information given under the seal of secrecy
must be kept, save in exceptional cases where keeping the secret is bound to cause very
grave harm to the one who confided it, to the one who received it or to a third party,
and where the very grave harm can be avoided only by divulging the truth. Even if not
confided under the seal of secrecy, private information prejudicial to another is not to be
divulged without a grave and proportionate reason.
2492 Everyone should observe an appropriate reserve concerning persons' private lives.
Those in charge of communications should maintain a fair balance between the
requirements of the common good and respect for individual rights. Interference by the
media in the private lives of persons engaged in political or public activity is to be
condemned to the extent that it infringes upon their privacy and freedom.
V. THE USE OF THE SOCIAL
COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA
2493 Within modern society the communications media play a major role in
information, cultural promotion, and formation. This role is increasing, as a result of
technological progress, the extent and diversity of the news transmitted, and the
influence exercised on public opinion.
2494 The information provided by the media is at the service of the common good.[284]
Society has a right to information based on truth, freedom, justice, and solidarity:
The proper exercise of this right demands that the content of the communication be
true and - within the limits set by justice and charity - complete. Further, it should be
communicated honestly and properly. This means that in the gathering and in the
publication of news, the moral law and the legitimate rights and dignity of man should
be upheld.[285]
2495 "It is necessary that all members of society meet the demands of justice and charity
in this domain. They should help, through the means of social communication, in the
formation and diffusion of sound public opinion."[286] Solidarity is a consequence of
genuine and right communication and the free circulation of ideas that further
knowledge and respect for others.
2496 The means of social communication (especially the mass media) can give rise to a
certain passivity among users, making them less than vigilant consumers of what is said
or shown. Users should practice moderation and discipline in their approach to the mass
media. They will want to form enlightened and correct consciences the more easily to
resist unwholesome influences.
2497 By the very nature of their profession, journalists have an obligation to serve the
truth and not offend against charity in disseminating information. They should strive to
respect, with equal care, the nature of the facts and the limits of critical judgment
concerning individuals. They should not stoop to defamation.
2498 "Civil authorities have particular responsibilities in this field because of the
common good.... It is for the civil authority ... to defend and safeguard a true and just
freedom of information."[287] By promulgating laws and overseeing their application,
public authorities should ensure that "public morality and social progress are not gravely
endangered" through misuse of the media.[288] Civil authorities should punish any
violation of the rights of individuals to their reputation and privacy. They should give
timely and reliable reports concerning the general good or respond to the well-founded
concerns of the people. Nothing can justify recourse to disinformation for manipulating
public opinion through the media. Interventions by public authority should avoid
injuring the freedom of individuals or groups.
2499 Moral judgment must condemn the plague of totalitarian states which
systematically falsify the truth, exercise political control of opinion through the media,
manipulate defendants and witnesses at public trials, and imagine that they secure their
tyranny by strangling and repressing everything they consider "thought crimes."
VI. TRUTH, BEAUTY, AND SACRED ART
2500 The practice of goodness is accompanied by spontaneous spiritual joy and moral
beauty. Likewise, truth carries with it the joy and splendor of spiritual beauty. Truth is
beautiful in itself. Truth in words, the rational expression of the knowledge of created
and uncreated reality, is necessary to man, who is endowed with intellect. But truth can
also find other complementary forms of human expression, above all when it is a matter
of evoking what is beyond words: the depths of the human heart, the exaltations of the
soul, the mystery of God. Even before revealing himself to man in words of truth, God
reveals himself to him through the universal language of creation, the work of his Word,
of his wisdom: the order and harmony of the cosmos-which both the child and the
scientist discover-"from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a
corresponding perception of their Creator," "for the author of beauty created
them."[289]
[Wisdom] is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the
Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of
eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his
goodness.[290] For [wisdom] is more beautiful than the sun, and excels every
constellation of the stars. Compared with the light she is found to be superior, for it is
succeeded by the night, but against wisdom evil does not prevail.[291] I became
enamored of her beauty.[292]
2501 Created "in the image of God,"[293] man also expresses the truth of his
relationship with God the Creator by the beauty of his artistic works. Indeed, art is a
distinctively human form of expression; beyond the search for the necessities of life
which is common to all living creatures, art is a freely given superabundance of the
human being's inner riches. Arising from talent given by the Creator and from man's
own effort, art is a form of practical wisdom, uniting knowledge and skill,[294] to give
form to the truth of reality in a language accessible to sight or hearing. To the extent that
it is inspired by truth and love of beings, art bears a certain likeness to God's activity in
what he has created. Like any other human activity, art is not an absolute end in itself,
but is ordered to and ennobled by the ultimate end of man.[295]
2502 Sacred art is true and beautiful when its form corresponds to its particular
vocation: evoking and glorifying, in faith and adoration, the transcendent mystery of
God - the surpassing invisible beauty of truth and love visible in Christ, who "reflects
the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature," in whom "the whole fullness
of deity dwells bodily."[296] This spiritual beauty of God is reflected in the most holy
Virgin Mother of God, the angels, and saints. Genuine sacred art draws man to
adoration, to prayer, and to the love of God, Creator and Savior, the Holy One and
Sanctifier.
2503 For this reason bishops, personally or through delegates, should see to the
promotion of sacred art, old and new, in all its forms and, with the same religious care,
remove from the liturgy and from places of worship everything which is not in
conformity with the truth of faith and the authentic beauty of sacred art.[297]
IN BRIEF
2504 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" (Ex 20:16). Christ's disciples have
"put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Eph 4:24).
2505 Truth or truthfulness is the virtue which consists in showing oneself true in deeds and truthful in
words, and guarding against duplicity, dissimulation, and hypocrisy.
2506 The Christian is not to "be ashamed of testifying to our Lord" (2 Tim 1:8) in deed and word.
Martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith.
2507 Respect for the reputation and honor of persons forbids all detraction and calumny in word or
attitude.
2508 Lying consists in saying what is false with the intention of deceiving one’s neighbor.
2509 An offense committed against the truth requires reparation.
2510 The golden rule helps one discern, in concrete situations, whether or not it would be appropriate to
reveal the truth to someone who asks for it.
2511 "The sacramental seal is inviolable" (CIC, can. 983 # 1). Professional secrets must be kept.
Confidences prejudicial to another are not to be divulged.
2512 Society has a right to information based on truth, freedom, and justice. One should practice
moderation and discipline in the use of the social communications media.
2513 The fine arts, but above all sacred art, "of their nature are directed toward expressing in some way
the infinite beauty of God in works made by human hands. Their dedication to the increase of God's
praise and of his glory is more complete, the more exclusively they are devoted to turning men's minds
devoutly toward God" (SC 122).
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