Catechism index

1746 IN BRIEF The imputability or responsibility for an action can be diminished or nullified by ignorance, duress, fear, and other psychological or social factors.
1747 IN BRIEF The right to the exercise of freedom, especially in religious and moral matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of man. But the exercise of freedom does not entail the putative …
1748 IN BRIEF "For freedom Christ has set us free" (Gal 5:1). Previous - Next Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana
1749 THE MORALITY OF HUMAN ACTS Freedom makes man a moral subject. When he acts deliberately, man is, so to speak, the father of his acts. Human acts, that is, acts that are freely chosen in consequence of …
1750 I. The Sources of Morality The morality of human acts depends on: - the object chosen; - the end in view or the intention; - the circumstances of the action. The object, the intention, and the circumstances …
1751 I. The Sources of Morality The object chosen is a good toward which the will deliberately directs itself. It is the matter of a human act. the object chosen morally specifies the act of the will, insofar …
1752 I. The Sources of Morality In contrast to the object, the intention resides in the acting subject. Because it lies at the voluntary source of an action and determines it by its end, intention is an element …
1753 I. The Sources of Morality A good intention (for example, that of helping one's neighbor) does not make behavior that is intrinsically disordered, such as lying and calumny, good or just. the end does not justify the …
1754 I. The Sources of Morality The circumstances, including the consequences, are secondary elements of a moral act. They contribute to increasing or diminishing the moral goodness or evil of human acts (for example, the amount of a …
1755 II. Good Acts and Evil Acts A morally good act requires the goodness of the object, of the end, and of the circumstances together. An evil end corrupts the action, even if the object is good in itself …
1756 II. Good Acts and Evil Acts It is therefore an error to judge the morality of human acts by considering only the intention that inspires them or the circumstances (environment, social pressure, duress or emergency, etc.) which supply …
1757 IN BRIEF The object, the intention, and the circumstances make up the three "sources" of the morality of human acts.
1758 IN BRIEF The object chosen morally specifies the act of willing accordingly as reason recognizes and judges it good or evil.
1759 IN BRIEF "An evil action cannot be justified by reference to a good intention" (cf St. Thomas Aquinas, Dec. praec. 6). the end does not justify the means.
1760 IN BRIEF A morally good act requires the goodness of its object, of its end, and of its circumstances together.
1761 IN BRIEF There are concrete acts that it is always wrong to choose, because their choice entails a disorder of the will, i.e., a moral evil. One may not do evil so that good …
1762 THE MORALITY OF THE PASSIONS The human person is ordered to beatitude by his deliberate acts: the passions or feelings he experiences can dispose him to it and contribute to it. Previous - Next Copyright © Libreria …
1763 I. Passions The term "passions" belongs to the Christian patrimony. Feelings or passions are emotions or movements of the sensitive appetite that incline us to act or not to act in regard to something …
1764 I. Passions The passions are natural components of the human psyche; they form the passageway and ensure the connection between the life of the senses and the life of the mind. Our Lord called …
1765 I. Passions There are many passions. the most fundamental passion is love, aroused by the attraction of the good. Love causes a desire for the absent good and the hope of obtaining it; this …