2504. Non-Consummated Sins of Impurity.—These include all those preparatory sins in which unlawful sex pleasure is not carried to completion by coition or pollution. We shall speak first of the internal sins of thought, delight, and desire (see 232 sqq.), and next of the external sins of unlawful looks, words, kisses, and embraces.
2505. Impure Thoughts.—Impure thoughts (_delectatio morosa_) are representations in the mind or imagination of impure venereal objects in which deliberate pleasure is taken.
(a) They are representations, that is, mental pictures or images of things absent from the senses, but thought of or imagined as present. Thus, impure thoughts differ from desires, which consist in attraction with will to accomplish, and also from sense contact of various kinds with objects present to the eyes, ears, or touch.
(b) They are joined with deliberate pleasure of the will, that is, one intends them or consents even momentarily to them after perceiving their presence and malice, even though carnal pleasure is not felt or does not threaten. Thus, impure thoughts differ from tempting thoughts, which are transient and unwished forms that appear in the mind, and are thought on before their true character is adverted to, or which gain a lodging in spite of efforts to eject them. A tempting thought is not sinful, but an occasion of merit when resisted, no matter how long it endures (see 2497 b).
(c) The pleasure is taken in a venereal object, that is, in the thought of fornication, adultery or other carnal sin, committed by oneself or by another. Hence, impure thoughts are not to be confused with the pleasure taken in knowledge about impurity (e.g., a professor of medicine or morality is not impure when he rejoices at the sexual knowledge he possesses and which is necessary for his duties, or willingly thinks about sex matters when it is necessary or useful for him to do so), or with pleasure taken in the morally indifferent manner of the venereal sin. For example, amusement over a ridiculous feature of a sin which one detests is not an impure thought (see 233-236).
2506. The Malice of Impure Thoughts.—(a) The Theological Malice.—Impure thoughts are mortal sins: for he who deliberately rejoices at the thought of sin, loves sin and is therefore guilty of it. They are venial sins when there is imperfect advertence, and also when there is lightness of matter on account of the remoteness of the danger of a thought only indirectly voluntary. They are mortal when there is full deliberation and the impure thought is directly voluntary or gravely dangerous (see 2496).
(b) The Moral Malice.—Impure thoughts have the same specific malice as the representation of the object which is entertained as a welcome guest in the mind; for not only is impurity given the hospitality of the mind, but a particular kind of impurity (see 90, 235). Hence it follows, first, that a specifically different object (as is the case with different consummated sins) makes a specifically different sin (e.g., to think pleasurably of unlawful intercourse is mental fornication if the persons in mind are unmarried, and is mental adultery if the person in mind is married); secondly, that objects not specifically different—as is the case with different non-consummated sins of lewdness—do not make specifically different sins (e.g., to think pleasurably of a sinful kiss and to think sinfully of a sinful touch are both mental lewdness or impure thoughts); thirdly, that special malices of the object from which the mind can prescind—viz., those which in the external act do not change the species or do not explain the venereal pleasure—and from which it does prescind, are not incurred (e.g., to think pleasurably of sin with a woman who is married and a relative, if the thought that she is married or one’s relative is not pleasing or is displeasing, is mental fornication, not mental adultery or mental incest). In praxi vero consulitur confessariis ut regulariter abstineant a quaestionibus de specie morali delectationis morosae; nam fideles plerumque nesciunt faciliter distinguere inter species morales cogitationum, et sic interrogatio evaderet vel inutilis, vel etiam ratione materiae perieulosa. Ad haec quum casus crebriores sint, maximo esset incommodo, tum confessariis, tum poenitentibus, si sacerdos exquireret quae vix cognosci possunt. Sufficit igitur ordinarie sciscitari de specie theologica (utrum voluntas complacuerit), vel de specie morali generali (utrum actus internus delectatio morosa vel potius desiderium fuerit). See Canon 888, Sec.2; Norms for Confessors in Dealing with the Sixth Commandment, Holy Office, May 16, 1943.
2507. Impure Rejoicing.—Impure rejoicing is a deliberate pleasure of the mind yielded to the recollection of a past sin of impurity. Hence, this sin of rejoicing is committed when one thinks with approval of a fornication of former days, but the sin of rejoicing is not committed when one confines one’s pleasure to some good consequence of a fornication (e.g., the excellent child that was born), or to a lawful pleasure of the past, as when a widower thinks without present carnal commotion or danger of his former married life. The circumstances are more readily willed here than in impure thoughts, for here the mind is picturing an actual, not an imaginary case of sin, and the mental representation will therefore be more distinct; nevertheless, in the case of impure rejoicing the moral sub-species—at times even the distinction between impure rejoicing and impure thoughts—is usually not perceived. The principles of the previous paragraph apply to impure rejoicing.
2508. Impure Desires.—Impure desire is a deliberate intention to commit impurity in the future.
(a) It is a deliberate intention, that is, a purpose or will to which consent is given internally. Hence, an impure desire is not the same thing as a statement of fact, as when a passionate person declares that he would sin, were it not for fear of the consequences, meaning only that he is frail, not that he wishes to sin. Neither is it the same as a mere velleity, which desires venereal pleasure under circumstances that would make it lawful, as when a married man wishes that he were lawfully married to a woman other than his present wife, or that both he and the other woman were free to marry each other. But these velleities are foolish and venially sinful, and often on account of danger they are mortally sinful. An impure desire exists when the will consents unconditionally (as when a person decides or wishes to fornicate tomorrow) or conditionally under a proviso that does not take away the malice (as when a person decides that he would fornicate were it not for fear of punishment, or Wishes that it were lawful for him to practise fornication).
(b) It is an intention to commit impurity, and hence there is no impure desire in wishing what is not venereal pleasure (e.g., the spiritual, mental or bodily relief that follows on an involuntary pollution), or what is lawful venereal pleasure (e.g., when engaged persons think, but without carnal commotion or danger, of the benefits of their future married relationship).
2509. Malice of Impure Desires.—Impure desires are mortal sins and have the malice of the object and of the circumstances that one has in mind; that is, one commits the same kind of sin in desiring as in performing impurity. Hence, Our Lord declares that he who looks upon a woman to desire her unlawfully has already committed adultery in his heart (Matt., v. 28), and hence also the ninth commandment forbids sins of impure desire. The principles given in 2506, 2507, apply also to impure desires with this difference that the mind when it wills external performance considers the object as it is in itself, not as it is mentally represented, and hence is less likely to prescind from actual circumstances known to it, But even here confessional investigation is sometimes not necessary on account of its moral impossibility.
2510. Lewdness.—After the internal sins follow the external sins of lewdness or indecency (_impudicitia_). These may be defined as “external acts which are performed from or with deliberate venereal pleasure that is not consummated, and which are not directed to the conjugal act.”
(a) They are external acts of the body, such as the looks of the eye, the speech of the tongue, kisses of the lips, touches, fondling, embraces, pressure of the hand, etc. Those also are guilty of lewdness who permit themselves to be petted, kissed or otherwise impurely handled, unless it is morally impossible to resist, as when a woman who gives no internal consent cannot defend herself against a forced kiss without being killed, or cannot without great scandal refuse to shake hands with one whose motive is impure love. Lewdness (e.g., an impure look) may also be directed to one’s own person, or to an animal, or to an artificial object, such as a statue or book.
(b) They are performed from or with pleasure; that is, passion either causes or accompanies the impure look or other act. These non-consummated acts are indifferent in themselves and may be licitly performed for a just cause; they become sinful by reason of the evil passion that animates them. The carnal motive appears either from the end of the act (e.g., an indecent kiss naturally tends to impurity or grave danger thereof, no matter what good purpose the kisser may have), or from the end of the one acting (e.g., a decent kiss becomes an impure act if the one who kisses is moved by carnal desire). Hence, there is no sin of lewdness when one of the acts now considered is performed becomingly as to externals and innocently as to the internal motive and quality (e.g., from a sense of duty, not from pleasure).
(c) The pleasure intended or consented to is venereal; that is, such as is consummated in copulation or pollution. Hence, there is no sin of lewdness when the acts in question are performed becomingly and with and for pleasure of a spiritual kind (as when members of a family give one another the customary kiss or embrace of affection), or of a merely sensual kind (e.g., when a nurse kisses the tender skin of an infant). On the distinction of intellectual, sensual and venereal pleasures see above (2461).
(d) The external act is not consummated by copulation or pollution. These are often its result but they are a different degree of sin, and lewdness is committed even without them (see 2486).
(e) Lewdness is an action not directed to the conjugal act. Coition itself is lawful in the married state, and this legitimatizes all the preparatory or accessory endearments. Hence, the rule as to married persons is that venereal kisses and other such acts are lawful when given with a view to the exercise of the lawful marriage act and kept within the bounds of decency and moderation; that they are sinful, gravely or lightly according to the case, when unbecoming or immoderate; that they are venially sinful, on account of the inordinate use of a thing lawful in itself (85 a), when only pleasure is intended; that they are mortally sinful, when they tend to pollution, whether solitary or not solitary, for then they are acts of lewdness. The rights and duties during courtship and engagement will be treated below in Question III.
2511. Cases Wherein No Sin Is Committed.—Since lewdness proceeds from or is accompanied by culpable venereal pleasure, it does not exist in the following cases:
(a) in children who have not attained puberty and the capacity for sex pleasure, and hence there is no sin by reason of proximate danger in looks or touches exercised by them, which would be gravely sinful in those who have reached the age of puberty. These children may, however, sin against modesty or obedience, at least venially. They should be trained from their earliest years to reserve and decency, and it is a most serious sin to scandalize their innocence. The question of sex instruction for the young will be dealt with in the Question on the Duties of Particular States. If an adult person were as unmoved as a child by the stimulus of passion, such a one would incur no personal guilt of lewdness by kissing and the like acts, but such an adult person is very rare;
(b) in adult persons when a dangerous act is exercised by them, without consent or proximate danger, and with a sufficient reason for the exercise. Thus, a student of literature may read an erotic story from the classics, if he is proof against the danger and intends only improvement in style, though for the young such books should be expurgated; a professor of medicine or moral theology may discourse prudently to his students on venereal diseases or sins; an artist may use naked models in painting, if and as far as this is necessary; farm hands may attend to the service of female by male animals; looks and touches that would otherwise be immodest are lawful for proportionate reasons of utility, as in bathing oneself, in performing the services of nurse or physician for others, etc. (see 2497 sqq.).
2512. Conditions Governing Propriety of External Acts.—The becomingness of the external acts spoken of in 2510 b includes two conditions.
(a) On the side of its object, the act must not be directed unnecessarily to the parts of the body that are shameful and private (i.e., the genitals and immediately adjacent parts). It is customary to distinguish the remaining or non-shameful parts of the body into becoming, which are uncovered (e.g., face, hands, feet), and less becoming, which are covered (e.g., legs, breast, back). But as to less decent parts much depends on local usage. For example, at a bathing beach it is not unbecoming to appear in a mixed crowd with uncovered legs or arms, and in very warm countries it is not improper to go about in public with less clothing than is worn in colder climates.
(b) On the side of its subject, the act must be performed with moderation and respect for reasonable custom. Thus, columbine (popularly called “French”) kissing and the ardent or prolonged embraces known as “necking” or “petting” are admittedly indecent, even when not accompanied by sexual excitement. Oral abuse committed by or with either sex is indecent both as to the object, i.e., the part of the body involved, and as to the subject, i.e., the mode of action. It is the filthiest form of lewdness and is usually joined with pollution (irrumation).
2513. Morality of Kissing and Similar Acts.—(a) _Per se_, or from their nature, these acts are indifferent, since they can be employed, not only for evil (Job, xxxi. 27; Luke, xxii. 48), but also for good, as we see from the examples of the kiss of peace (I Thess., v. 26), the kiss of fraternal greeting (Gen., xxvii. 26, 27), and the kiss of respectful homage (Luke, vii. 38, 45).
(b) _Per accidens_, or from their circumstances, these acts are often venially or mortally sinful against purity or against some other virtue, or against both. Thus, justice is offended by injuries or violence (e.g., stolen kisses, unhygienic kisses that transmit venereal or other disease); charity is offended by scandal given the object of affection or the onlookers (e.g., kisses given by way of greeting to a member of the opposite sex by an ecclesiastic or religious, kisses forced upon children by grown-ups and which are harmful to the youthful sense of modest reserve); purity itself is offended by familiarities which, though not impure in themselves, constitute a peril for the virtue of one or both parties, as is true especially in demonstrations of sensual affection or pleasure. But even though there be some carnal commotion, it is not unlawful to give with a pure intention the decent salutation customary in one’s country (e.g., to shake hands with a lady, to kiss one’s stepmother or sister-in-law).
2514. Morality of Sensual Gratification.—Sensual gratification, or the pleasure experienced from the perfection in the sensible order of some object, is indifferent and lawful in itself (see 2461, 2492). When it is aroused by objects not venereally exciting (e.g., the beauty of the heavens or scenery, the harmony of music, the tender softness of the rose), it does not tempt to impurity; but when it is aroused by objects that are venereally exciting (e.g., the beautiful face or eyes or sweet voice or soft skin of a person much admired), it approaches so closely to the confines of venereal gratification as to seem almost the same thing. Hence arises the question; is deliberate sensual gratification about objects sexually exciting always a mortal sin?
(a) Many theologians answer in the affirmative, and give as their reason that in the state of fallen nature there is no one who can be assured that such gratification is not for him or her a proximate occasion of pollution, or of what is morally the same thing, of inchoate pollution. This opinion does not include gratifications not deliberately sought or yielded to, nor those in which experience has shown that the venereal attraction of the object, at least for the subject concerned, is nil or practically nil (e.g., sensual kisses of an infant by a nurse.)
(b) Other theologians dissent from the rigorous view, and argue that, since sensual and venereal attraction are really distinct, there is always the possibility of intending the former and excluding consent to the latter.
(c) To the present authors it seems that there is room for a middle way between these two extreme views. As was said above (2497), it is sometimes sinful and sometimes not sinful to encounter temptation, according to the intention and reason one has, and a temptation willed unjustifiably but only indirectly is a grave or a light sin according to the great or small danger that is risked. Now, it seems that certain forms of sensual gratification (e.g., those derived from beautiful but modest music or paintings) have only a very slight sexual allurement for even the passionate; whereas other forms (e.g., those derived from the warm kiss or caress of a handsome adult person of the opposite sex) are vehemently alluring. Hence, if sensual pleasure of the first kind is sought inordinately, or if it is dangerous to purity, there is a venial sin; if sensual pleasure of the second kind is sought, there is very likely mortal sin.
2515. The Theological Species of the Sin of Lewdness.—(a) _Per se_, or from its nature, this sin is mortal, even though the external act (kiss, etc.) be decent (see 2512) and of the briefest duration; for lewdness is consent to unlawful venereal pleasure, which from the nature of the case is a serious matter, tending either to illicit copulation or to pollution (see 2496). Hence, even a shake of the hand made with lustful intent is a mortal sin. If the guilt of adultery is found even in libidinous thoughts (Deut., v. 21) and glances (Matt., v. 28), much more is it found in lewd kisses, embraces, and conversations. Scripture strongly condemns every form of lewdness: impure speech (“Uncleanness let it not so much as be named among you, or obscenity, or foolish talking,” Eph., v. 3, 4), impure reading (“Evil communications corrupt good morals,” I Cor., xv. 33), impure looks (“Whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery with her in his heart,” Matt., v, 28), impure kisses and other touches (“It is good for a man not to touch a woman, but for fear of fornication let every man have his own wife,” I Cor., vii. 1).
(b) _Per accidens_, this sin may be venial as follows: first, on account of the imperfection of deliberation, as when a person under the influence of liquor, drugs or sleep acts with only a partial realization of what he is doing, especially if the lewd offense has not occurred before; secondly, on account of the lightness of the matter, when the lewd act is indirectly voluntary and the danger remote (see 2496), as when slight danger is risked in gratifying the sensual desire to gaze at a famous painting, or in yielding to an impulse of curiosity, levity, or playfulness, to indulge in suitable recreations or even unnecessary conversations in which occur glances or touches that arouse some small degree of sexual emotion. Were mortal guilt of impurity incurred in these instances, very few could remain free from it unless there was a general retirement into isolation. But even in the _per accidens_ cases there may be other mortal sins (e.g., that of drunkenness or of scandal).
2516. A large proportion of the sins of lewdness are only indirectly voluntary, and hence they are mortal or venial according to the amount of danger to which one exposes oneself. No ironclad rules, however, can be given to determine universally what things are gravely and what slightly dangerous, since the force and direction of concupiscence are not the same in all persons. Some persons are oversexed or passionate, others are undersexed or cold; some have normal, others abnormal inclinations (e.g., homosexuality, sadism, masochism, sexual fetishism) in matters venereal. Hypersexuality and abnormal sexuality are not in themselves sinful, but are manifestations of that inordinate concupiscence that is the effect of original sin and, if yielded to, becomes the cause of actual sin. Proximately they may be due to disease. But since these subjective differences do exist, what we shall set down in the following paragraphs about gravity and lightness of danger is to be understood of the average or normal person and in the abstract, for it is impossible to consider every individual case.
2517. Circumstances That Increase or Lessen the Danger of Sin.—(a) The Person Acting.—There is less danger before and after than during puberty, less for an invalid than for a person full of health, less for an inhabitant of a cold region than for a dweller in the tropics, less for one habituated to suppress venereal passion (e.g., a bachelor) than for one who has been accustomed to indulge it (e.g., a widower), less in some cases for the married who can lawfully enjoy sexual intercourse than for the single who cannot. Familiarity also can give a certain amount of immunity (e.g., where naked bathing or naked statuary in public places is according to custom, the natives are less disturbed by these things than outsiders). Those who know (without self-deception) from their experience that certain things excite them very little do not run grave danger in encountering such things.
(b) The Person or Being Who Is the Object of the Act.—There is less allurement in an animal than in a human, less in a small than in a large animal, less in a representation than in the original, less in young children than in adults, less in one’s own person or sex than in another person or the opposite sex, less in an elderly or homely person than in one who is young and attractive.
(c) The Sense Used.—Hearing (and, for a similar reason, reading) is less dangerous than sight, for hearing is nearer to the immanent activities of thought and desire, while sight has more of an emanant character (e.g., to hear or read about an obscene act is farther removed from it, and hence less seductive, than to see it in picture or reality). Sight in turn is less dangerous than touch, for sight is a more elevated and less material kind of perception, being exercised by a cognitional, not by a physical contact with its object, as is the case with touch (e.g., to behold others embrace is not so moving as to give or receive an embrace). Thus, impure touches (kisses, embraces, handling) are the most dangerous form of lewdness.
(d) The Sense-Object Acted Upon.—The degree of danger corresponds with the approach made to the act of generation (e.g., smutty stories are worse when they deal with consummated than with non-consummated acts) or to the genitals (e.g., impure touches are worse when directed to the organs of reproduction than to the non-shameful regions).
(e) The Manner.—There is greater danger when the act is prolonged than when it is momentary, when it is ardent than when it is calm (e.g., a passing glance or peep at an obscene picture is not as dangerous as a leisurely inspection, a loose linking of arms not as dangerous as a hug). The more exposed the object of attraction and the more secluded the parties themselves, the greater the danger (e.g., love-making between parties who are not fully clothed or who are alone in the dark or in a closed and curtained room is more dangerous than love-making between those who are properly dressed and seated among a crowd of people).
2518. Cases Wherein the Danger of Sin Is Grave or Slight.—A physician must know the difference between mortal and non-mortal diseases, and likewise a priest must know the distinction between various kinds of spiritual leprosies. But when certain cases are listed as less dangerous, this does not mean that they are not dangerous at all and that no account should be taken of them. Especially in the matter of impurity should the warning of Scripture be remembered: “He that contemneth small things shall fall by little and little” (Ecclus., xix. 1). With this in mind, we now subjoin some examples of grave and slight danger for cases in which a lewd act is indirectly voluntary, but is prompted only by curiosity, joke, levity or other such insufficient reason.
(a) Speech.—Dirty or suggestive stories, conversations, songs, music, or radio entertainments are a grave danger when the persons present are very impressionable (e.g., on account of age or character), or if the topic is utterly vile (e.g., descriptions of filthy or unnatural sex acts), or if the manner is very seductive (e.g., the terms used are unfit for polite society, or the story is very detailed, or sin is boasted about, or the conversation is prolonged). On the other hand, the danger is light when the persons present are of mature age and not strongly inclined to impurity, especially if the topic and the language are not very disgusting; but there may be serious sin on account of circumstances, as when the speaker or approving listener is a person from whom good example is expected. Obscene talk is generally not a serious sin when the persons are husband and wife, or a group of married men or of married women; on the contrary, it is generally a serious matter when the persons are a group of young people of the same sex, more serious when they are a mixed group, and still more serious when they are a boy and a girl or a young man and a young woman. The fact that those of the younger generation often do not admit this, does not change its abiding truth.
(b) Reading.—The remarks made on speech apply also to reading, which is a kind of silent speech. A noteworthy difference between the two in the present matter, however, is that reading is often more dangerous than conversation, since it is usually more protracted. Love letters and romances were once the chief temptation in this line, but today they seem mild in comparison with the supply of pornography that is easily accessible to all (e.,g., the magazines and papers that pander to depraved tastes, the stories and pseudo-scientific books that corrupt the youth of every land). Even without grave danger to self, one may still be guilty of grave sin in reading obscene books on account of the cooperation with the vendors of immorality, or the scandal, or the disobedience thereby shown to the Church (see 1455 sqq., 1529, 1530).
(c) Looks.—There is generally no danger in a look at the full nudity of a small infant, or at the less becoming parts of a person of the same sex; there is generally only slight danger when the object is the privates of self or of another of the same sex, or the coition of animals, unless the gaze be fixed, prolonged and the object near; there is grave danger in beholding a completely non-infant naked person of the opposite sex, or the coition or other grave external sex acts of human beings (unless the glance be brief or not attentive), or even at times the less becoming parts of the opposite sex, if the look is very intent and continuous. Representations of the bodily parts or acts just mentioned (pictures, drawings, diagrams, etc.) have generally the same dangers as the originals, though the allurement in itself is less vivid; circumstances may even make the representations equally or more dangerous (e.g., on account of a thin veil of concealment in paintings or sculpture that only increases the attraction; or on account of the suggestive music, the voluptuous dance, the crowd atmosphere that accompanies an immoral scene on the stage or screen). The saying of Oscar Wilde that esthetics are above ethics is opposed both to morality (since all conduct should be guided by reason) and to art (for the highest beauty is that of virtue and the spirit and purity).
(d) Touches.—Kisses are seriously dangerous to purity when warmly or lingeringly exchanged between adults of different sex who are attracted to one another as male and female; in other cases, kisses, if impressed on decent parts of the body and in a decent manner, may be only slightly dangerous. Holding or grasping between such adults is also a serious danger when it is vehement (e.g., the tight squeeze or hug of certain dances) or long (e.g., the repeated or hour-long fondling of love-makers); it is of slight or no danger in other cases, as in the customary handclasp of greeting, Handling or feeling, if passing, hurried or light, is generally not dangerous, when it has to do with the becoming parts of another person, or with the less becoming parts of a person of the same sex, or with personal private parts; it is only slightly dangerous, under the same conditions, in reference to the verenda of animals or small infants; it is gravely dangerous when directed to the privates of another person who has passed infancy, or to the less becoming parts of a person of opposite sex, or to the breasts of a woman, unless it be entirely casual, passing, or light. Tactile contact made under the clothing is of course more dangerous than that which is external.
2519. The Moral Species of Lewdness.—(a) Theoretically, it is more probable that the imperfect sins of impurity do not differ from the perfect sins to which they tend; for the natural circumstances or antecedents of an act have really the same morality as the act itself (see 2486). In the physical order, the fetus, the infant, and the child do not differ essentially from the full-grown man; and likewise, in the moral order, the thought, the purpose and the external beginning do not differ essentially from completed murder, even though for some reason the act be not finished. Hence, immodest words, reading, looks and touches belong to fornication, or adultery, or incest, or sodomy, according to their tendency (e.g., to read an immodest love story with another man’s wife and to kiss her is incipient adultery, and, if the guilty person has a vow of chastity, it is also sacrilege). But the species is taken only from the object, not from the purely accidental circumstances, such as the elicitive faculty (e.g., an immodest look at another does not differ essentially from an immodest touch) or the intensity (e.g., incomplete pleasure in touches by one who has not attained puberty does not differ essentially, according to some, from the completed pleasure of which he is capable). Moreover, it seems that, in regard to looks if not as regards touch, abstraction (see 2506) is easily made by the guilty person from various circumstances; for example, one who looks immodestly on a person consecrated to God, may be thinking only of his unlawful love for a person of the other sex, and so may be guilty of incipient fornication, but not of sacrilege, or he may be thinking, without any affection for the other person, only of his own pleasure, and so may perhaps be guilty only of incipient pollution. A less probable opinion makes lewdness a species of sin distinct from pollution and the other consummated sins.
(b) Practically, penitents should confess that their sin was indecent and not completed lust (such as pollution), and they should also confess whether the lewdness was committed by speech, reading, looks, kisses, embraces, or touches; and also the object of the sin, whether male or female, whether married or single, relative or non-relative, etc. Otherwise, since few penitents know how to distinguish the moral species of sins, there will be great danger of incomplete confessions; and, moreover, the additional sins usually committed in cases of lewdness (e.g., scandals, injustices, and bad company keeping) will not be disclosed. If a consummated sin of fornication, pollution, etc., followed the indecency, this consummated sin should be confessed distinctly. Similarly, those who expose, incite or tempt others to impure thoughts or to lewdness in word, reading, looks, kisses or touches, should confess the kind of sin they intended (see 1497), even though their purpose failed, whether it was incipient fornication, sacrilege, sodomy, etc. But some authors admit a generic confession (in which the penitent merely states that he sinned mortally or venially, as the case was, by indecency), if the lewdness was solitary, or was committed with another but certainly without scandal or lustful desire of the other person.
2520. The Consummated Sins of Impurity.—There are in all seven species of completed acts of impurity. (a) Thus, some sins of impurity are against reason because they do not observe the ends of sexual intercourse. These ends are, first, the begetting of children (to which is opposed unnatural impurity), and, secondly, the rearing of children (to which is opposed fornication).
(b) Other sins of impurity are against reason because they violate a right of the person with whom intercourse is had (incest), or of a third party to whom that person belongs. If the third party is injured in conjugal rights, there is adultery; if in parental rights, there is defloration or rape, according as the injury is done without or with force; if in religious rights, there is sacrilege. This second category of sins is classed under impurity rather than under injustice, because the purpose of the guilty person and his act belong to venereal sin.
2521. Comparative Malice of the Sins of Consummated Lust.—(a) In the abuse of an act, the worst evil is the disregard of what nature itself determines as the fundamentals upon which all else depends, just as in speculative matters the worst error is that which goes astray about first principles. Now, the prime dictates of nature as to sexual intercourse are that it serve the race and the family. Hence, the sin of unnatural lust (which injures the race by defeating its propagation) and the sin of incest (which injures the family by offending piety) are the worst of carnal vices.
(b) In the abuse of an act a lesser evil is that which observes the natural fundamentals, but disregards what right reason teaches about things secondary, in the manner of performing the act. But reason requires that in sexual intercourse the rights of the individual be respected. A most serious violation of individual right is adultery, which usurps the right of intercourse belonging to another; next in gravity is rape, which violently seizes for lust a person under the care of another or undefiled; next is defloration, which trespasses on the right of guardianship, or removes bodily virginity, but without violence; last among these sins is fornication, which is an injury done not to the living, but to the unborn.
2522. Multiplication of Sins of Lust.—The various kinds of lust may be combined in one and the same act, as when unnatural vice (e.g., sodomy) is practised with a relative (incest). Sacrilege, of course, aggravates every other kind of carnal sin, and thus there is sacrilegious sodomy, sacrilegious adultery, sacrilegious incest, etc.
2523. Fornication.—Fornication is the copulation of an unmarried man with an unmarried woman who is not a virgin.
(a) It is copulation, or sexual intercourse suited for generation of children. Thus, it differs from lewdness, which consists in unconsummated acts, and from sodomitic intercourse, which is consummated but unsuited for generation. Onanism is an aggravating circumstance of fornication, or rather a new sin of unnatural intercourse. (b) It is committed by unmarried persons, and thus it differs from adultery. (c) It is committed with a woman, and is thus distinguished from sodomy. (d) It is committed with a woman who is not a virgin, and thus differs from defloration.
2524. Sinfulness of Fornication.—It is of faith that fornication is a mortal sin.
(a) Thus, it is gravely forbidden by the divine positive law. Hence, whores and whoremongers are an abomination to the Lord (Deut., xxiii. 17); fornicators are worthy of death (Rom., i. 29-32), they shall not enter the kingdom of God (Gal., V. 19-21; Eph., v. 5; Heb., xiii. 4; Apoc., xxi. 8). The Fathers teach that fornication is a grave crime (St. Fulgentius), and that it brings condemnation on the guilty person (St. Chrysostom). The declarations of the Church on the evil of this sin are found in the Council of Vienne and in the censures of Alexander VII and Innocent XI (Denzinger, nn. 477, 1125, 1198).
(b) Fornication is gravely forbidden by the natural law. For it is seriously against reason to cause an injury to the entire life of another human being; but fornication does this very thing by depriving the unborn child of its natural rights to legitimacy, to the protection of both parents, and to education in the home circle. True, in some cases there may be no prospect of a child, or there may be provision for its proper rearing; but these cases are the exception, since fornication from its nature tends to the neglect of the child, and the morality of acts must be judged, not by the exceptional and accidental, but by the usual and natural. Those who commit fornication are thinking of their own pleasure rather than of duty, and will generally shirk the difficult burdens of parenthood. Society also would be gravely wounded if unmarried intercourse were at any time lawful. Hence, St. Paul reproves the pagans, though ignorant of Scripture, for their sins of fornication (I Cor., vi. 9-11; Eph., v. 1-6), since reason itself should have taught them the unlawfulness of this practice. It seems, though, that invincible ignorance of the wrong of fornication is possible among very rude or barbarous people, since the injury to the neighbor does not show itself so clearly in this sin as in many others.
2525. Fornication Compared with Other Sins.—(a) It is less serious than those that offend a divine good (e.g., unbelief, despair, hatred of God, irreligion), or human life (e.g., abortion), or the human goods of those already in being (e.g., adultery). (b) It is more serious than sins that offend only an external good (e.g., theft), or that are opposed only to decency in the marriage state (e.g., unbecoming kisses of husband and wife).
2526. Circumstances of Fornication.—(a) Circumstances that aggravate the malice are the condition of the person with whom the sin is committed (e.g., that the female is a widow, or the employee of the man, or his ward, or a minor).
(b) Circumstances that add a new malice to fornication are of various kinds. Thus, previous circumstances are the distinct desires of the sin entertained beforehand, the solicitation and scandal of the other party or parties with whom the sin was committed; concomitant circumstances are the quality of the persons (e.g., fornication is sacrilegious if one of the parties is consecrated to God, and also, according to some, if one party is a Christian and the other an infidel; it is unjust if one of the couple is betrothed to a third party), or the quality of the act itself (e.g., if it is performed onanistically, though pollution may be excused if it results accidentally from the good purpose to discontinue the sinful act); subsequent circumstances are injury done to the partner in sin (e.g., by refusal to pay the support or restitution due) or to the offspring (e.g., by exposure, abortion, neglect).
Whether the fornication of an engaged person with a third party is a distinct species of sin is disputed. (a) According to some, it is a distinct species, or at least a form of adultery on account of the infidelity. (b) According to others, it is a distinct species if the guilty party is the woman, but not if it is the man, for the infidelity of the former is a far more serious matter than the infidelity of the latter. (c) According to still others, it is never a distinct species, since engagement to marry is a dissoluble agreement and the injury to the contract is therefore not a notable one. In this last opinion the manner of the sin is an aggravating circumstance, not a distinct species that has to be declared in confession.
2527. Forms of Fornication.—There are three special forms of fornication, which are all the same essentially, but which differ accidentally in malice or in results.
(a) Thus, ordinary fornication is that which is committed with a woman who is neither a harlot nor a concubine. This sin is in itself the least grave of the three, since it is not so harmful as whoremongering, nor so enduring as concubinage. Ordinary fornication also has its degrees of bad and worse: thus, engaged persons who sin together habitually are worse than those who sin only occasionally, and circumstances such as artificial onanism and abortion add to the guilt.
(b) Whoremongering is fornication committed with a harlot, that is, with a woman who makes a business of illicit intercourse and hires herself out for pay to all comers. Rarely does a harlot choose her life from passion or love, but is dragged in by white slavers, or enters from poverty, or after disgrace, or the like. This sin is worse than ordinary fornication from the viewpoint of propagation, since few harlots become mothers. But its most dire consequences are visited on the guilty persons themselves and on society: for the life of a prostitute is a most degrading slavery; to her patrons she communicates the most terrible diseases, which are then carried to innocent wives and children, and to the innocent she often becomes a cause of ruin, seeking her trade in the streets and public places. Today, according to reliable newspaper reports, many men and women have become rich in the terrible business known as the white-slave traffic. This horrible abuse has grown into a vast international machine which is efficiently organized, and which profits not only from prostitution, but from many other kinds of crime. The patrons of brothels, therefore, cooperate with the crying injustice that is often done the fallen woman, and with the criminals who destroy souls and bodies for their own advantage.
(c) Free love is fornication committed with one’s concubine, that is, with a woman who is not a public harlot but who has contracted with one man for habitual sexual intercourse as if they were man and wife. According to reports, this is quite common in Europe, where lawful marriage is very often preceded by free unions. The trial marriage advocated by some in this country, in which paramours agree to live together as husband and wife for a certain term of years or at pleasure, also falls under the category of concubinage. This sin is worse than mere whoremongering in one respect, namely, that it includes the purpose to continue in the state of sin, at least for a certain length of time. Moreover, there is often the public scandal and contempt for public opinion which other kinds of fornication may be free from. One who practises concubinage is living in a proximate occasion of sin, and hence he cannot be absolved unless he dismisses the concubine, if they cohabit, or agrees to keep away from her, if they do not cohabit.
2528. The State and Places of Prostitution.—It is clear that civil government has no right to support or provide places of prostitution, or to give permission for its practice, since fornication is intrinsically evil. But what should be said of toleration or license given to prostitutes by the public authority?
(a) Theoretically, the civil power has the right to give toleration or license; for, if the common welfare will suffer from a greater evil unless a lesser evil is suffered to go on, the lesser evil should be endured, and it is certain that there are greater evils than prostitution (such as rape and unnatural crimes of lust).
(b) Practically, the question is open to dispute. Older moralists held that toleration was actually more beneficial to the common good than suppression. But under the conditions of the present time many moralists think it is a mistake to give any recognition to prostitutes, and much less to houses of prostitution. Even in large cities, where alone the license could be beneficial, the purposes of toleration are not fulfilled; for the moral evil seems to be greater, since an appearance of legality is given to prostitution, its practice is facilitated, its habitats become dens of every kind of iniquity, and the purpose of segregation is not realized; the physical evils also are not lessened, but perhaps increased, for even with medical inspection of prostitutes, syphilis and gonorrhea cannot be prevented.
2529. Defloration and Rape.—Defloration and rape are distinct species of lust, for each of them in its very concept includes a special and notable deformity not found in other species of impurity.
(a) Defloration is unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman who is virginal in body (1488 a). It has the special deformity of depriving the woman of the physical integrity that is most highly prized among all the unmarried of her sex, or at least of her own self-respect, and of setting her on the way to become a strumpet rather than an honorable wife or spinster. Some authors do not consider defloration a special sin unless it is done by violence, or unless injury is done the parental right over the virgin; and even the authors who consider unforced defloration a special sin hold that the new or additional malice in it is slight and venial, and therefore not a necessary matter of confession. The first sin of fornication by a male is not a special sin, because the consequences are not so serious for the man as for the woman, but of course seduction is always a special sin, whether the injured party be male or female.
(b) Rape is physical or moral coercion (i.e., force or fear) employed against any person (male or female, married or single, pure or corrupt), or against his or her guardians, to compel him or her to an act of lust. It has the special deformity of inflicting bodily injury on the person ravished. The sin of rape should not be confused with the canonical crime of rape, which consists in abduction, and which is an impediment to marriage (Canon 1074); nor with seduction, as when an innocent person is deceived into believing that an act of impurity is lawful, or is tricked into sin by false promises of marriage. Equivalent to rape is the carnal knowledge of a person drugged, hypnotized, or otherwise unconscious, or the seduction of an infant. A person who is ravished is obliged to deny all consent internally, and to resist or make outcry when this is possible (see 2497 a).
2530. Adultery.—Adultery is also a distinct species of lust.—(a) Definition.—Adultery is sexual intercourse with the husband or wife of another. If the sin is committed only in desire, there is mental adultery; if the paramours allow themselves unlawful familiarities without intercourse, or if a married person is guilty of solitary lust, there is imperfect adultery.
(b) Sinfulness of Adultery.—Adultery is a grave sin, since it is an act of impurity and is expressly forbidden in the sixth commandment (Exod., xx. 14), and is classed among the sins that exclude from the kingdom of heaven (I Cor., vi. 9, 10). It is a special sin, because it is a violation of the faith pledged in the contract and Sacrament of Matrimony, and an injury to the right of one’s spouse and of the conjugal state (Matt., xix. 5; Rom., vii. 3; I Cor., vii. 39). Even though a husband gives his wife permission to commit adultery or vice versa, the injustice remains, for though the individual is not formally injured, the married state is injured, since no married person has the right to give a permission opposed to the sacredness of the marriage vows (Denzinger, n. 1200).
(c) Degrees of Malice.—There are three degrees of malice in adultery. The first is that in which a married man sins with a single woman; the second that in which a married woman sins with a single man; the third that in which a married man sins with another man’s wife. The second is worse than the first, on account of its consequences (e.g., sterility, uncertainty of paternity, rearing of an illegitimate child in the family); the third is worse than the second, because in addition to the consequences just mentioned, it contains a double injustice (viz., unfaithfulness to an innocent wife and unfaithfulness to an innocent husband), and it multiplies the sin. If an adulterer’s husband or wife is also unfaithful, the injustice is lessened, but not removed; for not merely the two married persons are to be considered, but also the children, the family, society, and God; and the wrong done by one of the parties does not take away the right to fidelity pledged absolutely to all of these in marriage.
(d) Effects.—The party whose marriage rights have been injured by adultery was permitted under some former civil codes to kill a wife taken in adultery. But such laws were against justice and charity: against justice since no guilty person should be put to death unheard, and no injured person should be judge and accuser in his own case; against charity, since by such summary vengeance the adulteress would be sent to death in the midst of sin and without opportunity for repentance. The remedies of Canon Law for the innocent spouse will be noted below (2542).
2531. Incest.—Incest is impurity committed with a person related to one within the degrees in which marriage is forbidden.
(a) It is impurity, internal or external. Internal desires are mental incest, while external unconsummated (e.g., kisses) or consummated (e.g., intercourse) acts are actual incest.
(b) It is committed with a relative, that is, with a person, male or female, who is near to one by the tie of common ancestry (blood relationship, kinship, consanguinity), or of marriage to one’s kin (marriage relationship, affinity), or of sacramental administration (spiritual relationship), or of adoption (legal relationship). Alias species cognationis non pertinent ad incestum, sed novam aliquam malitiam possunt tribuere; v.g., si partes sunt parochus et parochiana, confessarius et poenitens, habetur scandalum, seductio.
(c) The relationship is within the canonical degrees. Thus, marriage between blood relatives is forbidden in all degrees of the direct line (e.g., as to all female ancestry and posterity of a man) and in the first three degrees of the collateral line, which includes, for a man, his sisters, nieces, grandnieces, aunts, first and second cousins, grand aunts and their daughters and granddaughters. Marriage between those who are relatives-in-law is forbidden in all degrees of the direct line (e.g., as to wife’s mother, daughter, etc.) and in the first two degrees of the collateral line (e.g., wife’s sister, first cousin, aunt or niece). Spiritual relationship which is impedient of marriage exists between a person baptized and his baptizer, and also between the god-child and the god-parent in baptism. Legal relationship exists between the adopter and the adopted, when and as the civil law makes it a bar to marriage.
(d) Incest is committed within the forbidden degrees, and hence if a dispensation from an impediment of relationship had been granted to parties about to marry, a sin between them would not be incestuous.
2532. Incest as a Distinct Species of Sin.—(a) There is a specific distinction between incest and other forms of lust, since incest violates not only purity, but also the piety and respect due each other by those who are so closely related as to be unable to contract a lawful marriage. Nature itself abhors this sin; for, apart from the exceptional cases in which a dispensation is given, even lawful marriage with near relatives would be an incentive to many sins before marriage and would prevent the widening circle of friendships between mankind which marriage with non-relatives produces, and would cause a physical and mental enfeeblement of the race. In Scripture incest is spoken of with peculiar horror as a nefarious deed deserving of death (Lev., xx. 11 sqq.), and as an act unworthy even of pagans (I Cor., v. 1 sqq.).
(b) There are three distinct sub-species of incest, namely, natural incest (between kin by blood or marriage), spiritual incest (between the baptized and his baptizer or god-parent), and legal incest (between persons who are kin in virtue of 8, marriage-impeding adoption). The first violates piety due to natural origin, the second that due to spiritual origin, and the third that due to legal origin. And in each species the nearer the relationship, the greater the sin (e.g., incest with a sister-in-law is less than that with a sister, incest with a sister is less than that with a mother).
2533. Carnal Sacrilege.—Carnal sacrilege is the violation by an act of impurity of the sacredness of a person, place or thing.
(a) It is a violation of sacredness, and thus it is a special sin, adding irreligion to lust (see 2308 sqq.).
(b) It is an act of impurity, internal or external, consummated or non-consummated. The impurity, however, must be so related to that which is sacred as to treat its sanctity with injury or contempt (formal disrespect), and there is no sacrilege if the impurity is associated with something holy in such a way as not to show any notable irreverence (material disrespect).
(c) Its first species is personal sacrilege, and it is committed by a sacred person (see 2309) when he is impure internally or externally, or by a non-sacred person when in desire or act he commits impurity with a sacred person. If two sacred persons sin together, there is a double sacrilege, which multiplies the sin.
(d) Its second species is local sacrilege, and is committed when an impure act is done in a sacred place (2311) in such a way as to show formal disrespect. Hence, consummated acts done in a church are sacrilegious, and the same is probably true of non-consummated acts, at least if they are of an enormous kind (e.g., a lascivious dance), and even of internal desires to sin in the sacred place. But impure thoughts or passing glances of prurient curiosity in a church are not sacrilegious.
(e) Its third species is real sacrilege, and it occurs when impurity is committed in such a way as to show formal disrespect to a sacred object (2311). Hence, there is sacrilege of this kind when one commits impurity immediately after Communion, or when one uses the Sacrament of Penance as a means to solicit impurity. But the fact that a person commits impurity while wearing a scapular is not sacrilegious, unless contempt for the scapular was intended.
2534. Unnatural Lust.—Worst among the sins of impurity, as such, are crimes of unnatural lust, for they exercise the sexual act, not only illicitly, but also in a manner that defeats its purpose of reproduction. In some non-venereal respects, however, natural sins of impurity may be worse than the unnatural; for example, adultery is worse as regards injustice, sacrilegious lust as regards irreligion, etc. There are four distinct species of unnatural impurities— pollution, unnatural coition, sodomy, bestiality (see Denzinger, n. 1124).
(a) For procreation nature requires copulation, and hence pollution is unnatural, for it exercises semination without copulation, either alone (self-abuse, solitary vice, masturbation) or with another (softness).
(b) For procreation nature requires proper copulation, that is, one that will permit of a fertile union between the two life elements, the sperma and the ovum. Hence, unnatural coition does not comply with this necessity, for it does not employ the proper organ of sexual union, substituting rectal for vaginal intercourse, or else by some form of natural or artificial onanism it frustrates the act of its destined conclusion. This sin is worse than pollution, since pollution omits to use intercourse, whereas unnatural coition positively abuses it.
(c) For procreation nature requires heterosexual intercourse, a condition disregarded by sodomy, which is the lustful commerce of male with male (pederasty, uranism), or of female with female (tribadism, sapphism, Lesbian love). This sin is worse than unnatural coition, for it is a greater perversity to neglect one of the two needed life elements than to neglect the right process for their union (see Gen., xix. 24, 25; Lev., xx. 13; Rom., i. 26, 27).
(d) Finally, for procreation nature requires homogeneous intercourse, a law violated by bestiality, which is coition of a human being, male or female, with a brute animal. This is the worst of unnatural impurities, since it sins against the most fundamental condition for the sexual act, namely, that the participants be of the same nature (see Lev., xx. 15, 16). Similar to bestiality is the crime of necrophilism (intercourse with a corpse).
2535. Pollution.—Pollution is the voluntary emission of semen apart from coition.
(a) It is an emission, that is an external discharge. The internal secretion in the so-called female semination is also included by many under the head of pollution. The carnal motions spoken of in 2497 b are a preparation for pollution.
(b) It is a discharge of semen, that is, of the male fluid that fertilizes the female ovum. But equivalent pollution, from the moral viewpoint, is found in the discharge of certain non-prolific fluids that are accessory to generation or that produce in their movement a venereal satisfaction, such as the vaginal fluid in females (female semination), the urethral fluid in males capable or incapable of procreation (distillation). There is no pollution, however, in natural discharges such as menstruation and urination.
(c) It is apart from coition, and thus it differs from other consummated sins. But pollution may be committed either alone (solitary vice), or with another, and in the latter case it pertains reductively to adultery, fornication, sodomy, etc., as the case may be.
(d) It is voluntary directly or indirectly: directly, when one intends it as an end (e.g., for the sake of the pleasure) or as a means (e.g., as a relief from temptation or bodily itching, to obtain a specimen of semen for medical diagnosis); indirectly, when one unjustifiably does something from which one foresees that pollution will result. In all these cases pollution is formal or sinful, and it is not to be confused with material or natural pollution, which is a discharge of semen or distillation that is involuntary or unimputable.
2536. Cases of Material or Non-Sinful Pollution.—(a) Involuntary pollution is passive or active. The former happens even when one is awake. It is evoked by such slight causes as physical movement and exertion, and is unaccompanied by pleasure; when habitual, it is a disease due to organic debility The latter happens during sleep, and may be caused by a superfluity of fluid. It is accompanied by pleasure and often by libidinous dreams. It is a means used by nature to relieve the system, and is therefore healthful and beneficial, unless the discharges are too frequent (e.g., nightly). There is no obligation of repressing the continuance of a pollution that began involuntarily during sleep, since it may be regarded as an act of nature; but consent must be withheld (2498 sqq.). Moreover, if merely natural pollution be considered, not as to its venereal gratification but solely as to its good effects (e.g., that it ends a temptation, that it benefits the mind or the health), there is no sin in rejoicing at its accomplishment or in desiring its fulfillment, provided nothing is done to produce it and the intention is good; for then the object of the will is indifferent and the end is good.
(b) Unimputable pollution is caused by a lawful act from which one foresees that pollution will ensue, there being no proximate danger of consent to sin, and the pollution being only permitted, and that for a proportionately grave reason.
2537. Unimputable Pollution.—In reference to unimputable pollution the following distinctions should be noted:
(a) the danger risked by an act may be either of formal pollution (i.e., with consent to sin) or of material pollution (i.e., without consent to sin);
(b) the danger of pollution is either proximate or remote, the former being that from which pollution naturally and usually results and the latter that from which it does not naturally or usually result. Remotely dangerous are acts of a non-venereal kind, such as horseback riding, gymnastics, drinking alcoholic beverages, and also acts of a sexual kind that are only mildly exciting, such as conversations or books that are slightly “off color” when the parties are of mature age (see 2517, 2518). Proximately dangerous are acts of a venereal kind that notably inflame passion, such as warm and lingering kisses between persons of opposite sexes (see 2517, 2518);
(c) the reason for running the danger of pollution is either grave, serious, or slight. A grave reason is real necessity (e.g., the removal of disease or pain or of a very painful or troublesome itch due to the blood or disease) or great utility (e.g., the preservation of health, cleanliness of body); a serious reason is an important convenience of soul or body (e.g., the exercise of common politeness, the enjoyment of reasonable comfort); a slight reason is one in which none of the mentioned motives is found (e.g., the satisfaction of an idle curiosity, the removal of a trifling irritation or itch).
2538. Proximate and Remote Occasions of Pollution.—It is never lawful to expose oneself to the immediate danger of sin, for he who loves the danger loves the sin (see 258, 260); but if one uses means to make the danger remote, one may lawfully encounter it for a good reason (see 258, 260, 261). It is lawful to permit an evil effect when there is sufficient justification according to the principle of double effect (see 103 sqq.).
(a) Hence, if there is proximate danger of formal pollution (that is, of consent to sin), no reason excuses an act even of a non-sexual kind, such as horseback riding. But if the act is necessary, the danger must be made remote by the use of special means, such as prayer, firm resolves, etc. (see 2497 sqq.).
(b) If there is proximate danger of material pollution, a grave reason suffices (e.g., the care of patients by physicians and nurses, assistance of bathers by attendants, warm soporific drinks taken for the sake of sleep).
(c) If there is remote danger of material pollution, a serious reason suffices (e.g., customary salutations of the country, physical exercises, moderate comfort in posture, seasoning in food.). A slight reason may excuse at times from mortal sin (e.g., unnecessary curiosity about the sciences of anatomy or sexology).
2539. The Theological Malice of Sinful Pollution.—(a) From its nature pollution is a mortal sin, because it is an act of impurity (1494) and a perversion of nature (2534). Moreover, its consequences are most injurious to society (it tends to self-indulgence and the avoidance of the burdens of marriage) and to the individual (when habitual, it weakens mental and will power and often brings on a breakdown of bodily vigor especially among young people), In Scripture it is represented as gravely illicit (I Cor., vi. 10; Gal., v. 19; Eph., v. 3). Hence, pollution is always a mortal sin when directly willed (e.g., when practised deliberately in order to be rid of a temptation or of bodily irritation or itch certainly due to superfluity of semen or to passion), and also when indirectly willed if there is proximate danger of consent to sin (e.g., when one who has always committed formal pollution in certain company goes into that company without necessity, or without use of means to prevent a fall) or grave danger of pollution and no sufficient reason for permitting it (e.g., undue familiarities from which nocturnal pollution is foreseen as most probable).
(b) From the imperfection of the internal act, pollution is sometimes only a venial sin. This happens in case of invincible ignorance (e.g., young children who do not understand the evil of masturbation, students who have been taught by instructors or physical directors that it is necessary for health or that it is unsanitary but not sinful), or of incomplete consent (e.g., when the person is only half awake and does not ordinarily desire pollution, when he is a psychopathic and not fully responsible for his acts).
(c) From the lightness of the matter pollution is venial when willed indirectly and permitted without sufficient reason, if there is only slight danger of it from the nature of the action performed (see 2496). Examples are the reading for pastime of love stories before falling asleep with the prevision that this may possibly bring on pollution during sleep.
2540. If the action productive of pollution is gravely illicit, as being seriously opposed to chastity (e.g., lewdness) or to some other virtue (e.g., extreme intemperance in drugs or alcohol), is one thereby guilty of the grave sin of pollution?
(a) If the case be considered in the abstract, the answer is in the negative. For if the action in question is only remotely dangerous as regards pollution (e.g., an action of a non-venereal kind such as intemperance does not necessarily tend to impurity, an act of a venereal kind that is momentary, such as a desire, does not strongly affect the passions), the sin is only venial in so far as pollution is concerned (see 2517, 2518).
(b) If the case be considered in the concrete, the answer is in the affirmative as a rule when there is question of a habit. For generally those who act habitually in this way yield consent to the pollution as well as to the sin that precedes. Authorities note, however, that he who repents of the cause of pollution before the pollution results is not guilty of the actual pollution.
2541. The Moral Species of Sinful Pollution.—(a) The general species of pollution is distinct from other consummated sins of impurity, since it is unnatural, and this in a special way (see 2534, and Denzinger, n. 1124), But some authors regard equivalent pollution (see 2493, 2535) as not a consummated sin, since it is without true semination, and hence according to them it may be confessed simply as impure pleasure (see 2519 b).
(b) The particular species of pollution is derived from circumstances that give it a new essential malice. If it is solitary, and committed by one who is under no bond of marriage or vow, and accompanied by no thought or desire except in reference to self or self-gratification (autoerotism, narcissism), there is the single sin of pollution. But there are other sins if it is committed by one under special obligation (i.e., adultery or sacrilege), or if committed with another person (e.g., seduction, cooperation, rape), or if committed with impure thoughts or desires about others (e.g., mental adultery, fornication, sodomy, bestiality). The manner in which pollution is performed (e.g., whether cooperative pollution is active or passive, by irrumation or concubitus or touch, with or without an instrument) is _per se_ an accidental circumstance. According to some authors, cooperative pollution brought on by touch alone is not diversified in species, if there is no special affection for the other person, but only the desire of carnal gratification, and hence it may be declared simply as pollution from touch.
2542. Penalties for Immorality Decreed in Canons 2357-2359.—(a) Laymen who are guilty of certain offenses against the sixth commandment become infamous on conviction and are excluded from legitimate ecclesiastical acts. In case of adultery, the injured spouse may obtain a separation, temporary or perpetual, from the offending spouse (Canon 1129). (b) Clerics in minor orders are subject to special punishments, and may even be dismissed from the clerical state. (c) Clerics in major orders are subject to penalties named in law (e.g., suspension, infamy, deposition) for graver crimes such as concubinage, adultery, and to penalties decreed by the lawful superior for other delinquencies.
2543. The Potential Parts of Temperance.—The appetites of pleasure are the most difficult to restrain, and there is need of a perfect virtue like temperance to rule over them and keep them within the bounds of reason. The analogous or potential virtues of temperance are that one which is able to check, though it does not tame, the animal appetites (continency), and those that preside and rule over the less violent appetites for vengeance, exercise of authority, superior excellence, knowledge, amusement and display (meekness, etc.). See above, 2465 c.
2544. Continence.—(a) Its Nature.—This quality, as here taken, is the state of one who has not gained mastery over the passions sufficient to keep down strong, frequent and persistent rebellions, but whose will is firmly disposed to resist their attacks. It is less than a moral virtue, then, since it does not tranquillize the lower appetites. The temperate man has already subdued his passions, and hence he is less disturbed by them, or at least he has less trouble in rejecting their onsets.
(b) Its Relation to Temperance.—Greater difficulty increases merit, if it is due to the presence of a corporal or external impediment (e.g., a man of sickly constitution or one who suffers great opposition deserves more credit for his work than a man of vigorous constitution or one who enjoys great favors and opportunities); not, however, if it is due to the absence of a spiritual excellence (e.g., a man who finds work hard because he is lazy does not deserve more credit than another who finds it easy because he is industrious). Hence, temperance is more deserving than continence, for it controls passion with greater ease simply because it has subjected not only the higher but also the lower appetite to the dictates of reason.
(c) Its Opposite.—The vice opposed to continence is incontinence, which does not follow the dictate of reason to resist the onslaughts of passion; it sees and approves the higher things, but it follows the lower. This sin is less grievous than intemperance, just as a passing indisposition is less harmful than a settled malady. For passion comes and goes, and the incontinent man quickly regrets his weakness; but a sinful habit of gluttony or impurity is permanent, and is so like a second nature that its votaries rejoice when they have satisfied their desires (Prov., ii. 14). Incontinence in pleasure is more disgraceful than incontinence in anger, for anger is less distant from reason; but on the other hand the irascible man usually sins more grievously by the greater harm he does to others. It is more difficult to contain oneself from wrath than from intemperance in the sense that wrath storms the soul by a more vehement and compelling attack; yet, it is harder to be unconquered by pleasure, because it lays persistent siege to the soul and demands a more unwearied vigilance.
2545. Meekness.—Meekness or mildness is the virtue that moderates anger.
(a) It is a virtue, since it consists in moderation according to right reason. Our Lord proclaims it blessed (Matt., v. 4). and St. Paul numbers it among the Fruits of the Spirit (Gal., v. 23). Illustrious models of mildness are Joseph (Gen., l. 20), Moses (Num., xii. 3), David (I Kings, xxiv), Christ (Luke, xv; John, i. 29, viii. 11), St. Paul (Acts, xx. 31).
(b) Its office is moderation, and hence in its manner, though not in its matter, it is like temperance. It follows the middle way between the extremes of sinful indignation and sinful indulgence.
(c) Its matter is the passion of anger, that is, the sensitive appetite that inclines one to avenge an evil by punishing its author. Like other passions (121), anger is indifferent in itself, but it is made good or evil by its reasonableness or unreasonableness. The meek man is angry at times, but only when and where and as he should be (Ps. iv. 5); his anger is not a blind impulse, but a righteous zeal that attacks a wrong only after reason has shown that this is the proper course.
2546. Anger.—Anger is sinful when it deviates from reason, as to its matter or its manner.
(a) Thus, it is unreasonable as to its matter (i.e., its vengeance) when it punishes unjustifiably (e.g., when the person punished is innocent, when the penalty is excessive, when the legal order is not followed, when the motive is not justice or correction, but hatred, etc).
(b) It is unreasonable as to its manner (i.e., the degree of excitement felt or shown) when temper goes beyond measure. Great anger is not sinful when a great evil calls for it (e.g., the anger of Our Lord against the money-changers in John, vi. 14 sqq.; that of Mathathias against the idolatrous Jew in I Mach., ii. 24); but to fly into a rage at nothings or trifles is sinful.
2547. Gravity of the Sin of Anger.—(a) If anger is sinful on account of its matter, it is mortal from its nature as being opposed to charity and justice. He that is angry against his brother is worthy of hell fire (Matt., v. 21, 22). It may be venial, however, on account of imperfection of the act (e.g., the sudden impulse to strike down those who do not agree with one’s opinions) or the lightness of the matter (e.g., a slap or push or box on the ears given a naughty child when a word of reproof would have sufficed).
(b) If anger is sinful on account of its manner, it is venial from its nature; for excess in an otherwise indifferent passion is not a serious disorder (see 2450). But the sin may be mortal by reason of circumstances, as when an angry person acts like a wild man, curses and swears, breaks the furniture, gives serious scandal on account of his position, or the time or place, or injures his health by the violence of his paroxysm.
2548. Is Anger a Graver Sin than Hatred and Envy?—(a) As to its matter, anger is less grave than hatred and envy, for it pursues evil under the guise of spiritual good, pretending at least that the harm it intends is just, whereas hatred and envy pursue evil precisely as it is injurious to another, or as it is a means to one’s own temporal and external good or glory. Likewise, anger is less grave objectively than concupiscence, for the voluptuous man aims at utility or pleasure, whereas the revengeful man aims at what he makes believe is just.
(b) As to its manner, anger surpasses the vices mentioned in certain of its violent manifestations. The infuriated man, when crossed, creates a scene and makes a fool of himself; his blood boils, his face is flushed, his eyes dart fire, he froths at the mouth and trembles, he pounds, stamps and bellows like an enraged bull.
2549. Anger as One of the Seven Capital Vices.—(a) It has a certain preeminence in evil. Its matter is quite attractive, for revenge is sweet and the cloak of just retaliation makes it seem good; its manner is powerful, for it drives one on to dare even the most shocking crimes.
(b) It is the spring of many sins. In the heart anger produces indignation against the object of displeasure, whom the angry man looks upon as base and unworthy, and soreness about the treatment of self, which fills the mind with plans of revenge. Sins of the mouth due to anger are incoherent cries of rage, words of contumely and blasphemy (Matt., v. 22), while its sinful deeds include quarrels and every kind of injury.