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.138 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,139 The sin of the
Sodomites,140 The cry of the people oppressed in Egypt,141 The
cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan,142 injustice to the
wage earner.143
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."144
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