THE CATECHISM OF
THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH
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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.
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]
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]
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 into error someone who has
the right to know the truth. 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.
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.
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."
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 the neighbor who has the right to the truth.
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).
You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your
neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his
ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.[298]
Every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery
with her in his heart.[299]
2514 St. John distinguishes three kinds of covetousness or concupiscence:
lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life.[300] In the
Catholic catechetical tradition, the ninth commandment forbids carnal
concupiscence; the tenth forbids coveting another's goods.
2515 Etymologically, "concupiscence" can refer to any intense form of
human desire. Christian theology has given it a particular meaning: the
movement of the sensitive appetite contrary to the operation of the human
reason. The apostle St. Paul identifies it with the rebellion of the
"flesh" against the "spirit."[301] Concupiscence stems from the
disobedience of the first sin. It unsettles man's moral faculties and,
without being in itself an offense, inclines man to commit sins.[302]
2516 Because man is a composite being, spirit and body, there already
exists a certain tension in him; a certain struggle of tendencies between
"spirit" and "flesh" develops. But in fact this struggle belongs to the
heritage of sin. It is a consequence of sin and at the same time a
confirmation of it. It is part of the daily experience of the spiritual
battle:
For the Apostle it is not a matter of despising and condemning the body
which with the spiritual soul constitutes man's nature and personal
subjectivity. Rather, he is concerned with the morally good or bad works,
or better, the permanent dispositions - virtues and vices - which are the
fruit of submission (in the first case) or of resistance (in the second
case) to the saving action of the Holy Spirit. For this reason the Apostle
writes: "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit."[303]
2517 The heart is the seat of moral personality: "Out of the heart come
evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication...."[304] The struggle
against carnal covetousness entails purifying the heart and practicing
temperance:
Remain simple and innocent, and you will be like little children who do
not know the evil that destroys man's life.[305]
2518 The sixth beatitude proclaims, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God."[306] "Pure in heart" refers to those who have attuned
their intellects and wills to the demands of God's holiness, chiefly in
three areas: charity;[307] chastity or sexual rectitude;[308] love of
truth and orthodoxy of faith.[309] There is a connection between purity of
heart, of body, and of faith:
The faithful must believe the articles of the Creed "so that by believing
they may obey God, by obeying may live well, by living well may purify
their hearts, and with pure hearts may understand what they believe."[310]
2519 The "pure in heart" are promised that they will see God face to face
and be like him.[311] Purity of heart is the precondition of the vision of
God. Even now it enables us to see according to God, to accept others as
"neighbors"; it lets us perceive the human body - ours and our neighbor's
- as a temple of the Holy Spirit, a manifestation of divine beauty.
2520 Baptism confers on its recipient the grace of purification from all
sins. But the baptized must continue to struggle against concupiscence of
the flesh and disordered desires. With God's grace he will prevail
- by the virtue and gift of chastity, for chastity lets us love with
upright and undivided heart;
- by purity of intention which consists in seeking the true end of man:
with simplicity of vision, the baptized person seeks to find and to
fulfill God's will in everything;[312]
- by purity of vision, external and internal; by discipline of feelings
and imagination; by refusing all complicity in impure thoughts that
incline us to turn aside from the path of God's commandments: "Appearance
arouses yearning in fools";[313]
- by prayer:
I thought that continence arose from one's own powers, which I did not
recognize in myself. I was foolish enough not to know . . . that no one
can be continent unless you grant it. For you would surely have granted it
if my inner groaning had reached your ears and I with firm faith had cast
my cares on you.[314]
2521 Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty
protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil
what should remain hidden. It is ordered to chastity to whose sensitivity
it bears witness. It guides how one looks at others and behaves toward
them in conformity with the dignity of persons and their solidarity.
2522 Modesty protects the mystery of persons and their love. It encourages
patience and moderation in loving relationships; it requires that the
conditions for the definitive giving and commitment of man and woman to
one another be fulfilled. Modesty is decency. It inspires one's choice of
clothing. It keeps silence or reserve where there is evident risk of
unhealthy curiosity. It is discreet.
2523 There is a modesty of the feelings as well as of the body. It
protests, for example, against the voyeuristic explorations of the human
body in certain advertisements, or against the solicitations of certain
media that go too far in the exhibition of intimate things. Modesty
inspires a way of life which makes it possible to resist the allurements
of fashion and the pressures of prevailing ideologies.
2524 The forms taken by modesty vary from one culture to another.
Everywhere, however, modesty exists as an intuition of the spiritual
dignity proper to man. It is born with the awakening consciousness of
being a subject. Teaching modesty to children and adolescents means
awakening in them respect for the human person.
2525 Christian purity requires a purification of the social climate. It
requires of the communications media that their presentations show concern
for respect and restraint. Purity of heart brings freedom from widespread
eroticism and avoids entertainment inclined to voyeurism and illusion.
2526 So called moral permissiveness rests on an erroneous conception of
human freedom; the necessary precondition for the development of true
freedom is to let oneself be educated in the moral law. Those in charge of
education can reasonably be expected to give young people instruction
respectful of the truth, the qualities of the heart, and the moral and
spiritual dignity of man.
2527 "The Good News of Christ continually renews the life and culture of
fallen man; it combats and removes the error and evil which flow from the
ever-present attraction of sin. It never ceases to purify and elevate the
morality of peoples. It takes the spiritual qualities and endowments of
every age and nation, and with supernatural riches it causes them to
blossom, as it were, from within; it fortifies, completes, and restores
them in Christ."[315]
IN BRIEF
2528 "Everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed
adultery with her in his heart" (Mt 5:28).
2529 The ninth commandment warns against lust or carnal concupiscence.
2530 The struggle against carnal lust involves purifying the heart and
practicing temperance.
2531 Purity of heart will enable us to see God: it enables us even now to
see things according to God.
2532 Purification of the heart demands prayer, the practice of chastity,
purity of intention and of vision.
2533 Purity of heart requires the modesty which is patience, decency, and
discretion. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person.
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