What are the mortal sins in the Catholic church?

-- maritha (maritha172000@yahoo.co.uk), March 28, 2004

Answers

Hi Maritha,

Basically, breaking the Ten Commandments (e.g., murder, adultery, robbery, perjury, blasphemy, etc.)

However, for a sin to be mortal there are certain conditions that must be met for the sin to destroy our friendship with our loving Father in Heaven. For instance, a man stealing bread to feed his starving kids would probably not be committing a mortal sin. Here's some quotes from the Catechism to better explain:

1856 Mortal sin, by attacking the vital principle within us - that is, charity - necessitates a new initiative of God's mercy and a conversion of heart which is normally accomplished within the setting of the sacrament of reconciliation: When the will sets itself upon something that is of its nature incompatible with the charity that orients man toward his ultimate end, then the sin is mortal by its very object . . . whether it contradicts the love of God, such as blasphemy or perjury, or the love of neighbor, such as homicide or adultery. . . . But when the sinner's will is set upon something that of its nature involves a disorder, but is not opposed to the love of God and neighbor, such as thoughtless chatter or immoderate laughter and the like, such sins are venial.

1857 For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: "Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent."

1858 Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: "Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother." The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger. 1859 Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God's law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.

Scripture usually addresses mortal sin since that is what destroys our friendship with God. Here's some Bible verses that might be appropriate:

1 John 5 16: If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. 17: All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal.

1 Cor 6 9: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts, 10: nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Romans 6 23: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

-- Andy (aszmere@earthlink.net), March 28, 2004.