The New Seven Capital Sins

At a press conference held at the Holy See Press Office on Monday, September 16, 2024, Cardinal Mario Grech, General Rapporteur for the Synod, outlined the events surrounding the synodal Assembly scheduled for October 2-27 in Rome. According to the program, a penitential ceremony will be held on October 1.

The announcement of the penitential ceremony was made in a document issued jointly by the synod's General Secretariat and the Diocese of Rome. The ceremony will take place in St. Peter's Basilica, and will involve listening to three testimonies from people who have suffered as a result of sin—from abuse, war and indifference to the tragedy of migration—followed by the confession of seven sins.

Here is the list of sins, as the Synod document describes them:

• Sin against peace
• Sin against creation, against indigenous populations, against migrants
• Sin of abuse
• Sin against women, family, youth
• Sin of using doctrine as stones to be hurled
• Sin against poverty
• Sin against synodality / lack of listening, communion, and participation of all

The New Capital Sins

Presumably, these sins are considered particularly serious, since they are highlighted and it is for them that the Pope “will address, on behalf of all the faithful, the request for forgiveness to God and to the sisters and brothers of all humanity.” These are, then, like the new “seven deadly sins,” of which we must particularly accuse ourselves today.

Some of them are too general and can cover many situations: the sin against poverty can be a lack of assistance to the poor, or even wastefulness. The sin against the family can cover divorce, contraception, abortion, surrogacy... The latter is also a sin against surrogate women, a kind of slavery.

It is curious that there is a sin against youth, but no sin against old age: euthanasia is already rife in many countries, and seeks to spread to every continent. As for the sin of abuse, it's a vast spectrum: abuse through physical violence, sexual violence, abuse of power, abuse of corporate assets.

But isn't the very principle of a cardinal sin to cover a broad category? That's where it gets its name from: “capital” comes from “caput,” which is Latin for “head.” A capital sin encompasses a more or less extensive domain, where sins that depend on it, in one way or another, are grouped together.

In this sense, the sin against peace can be conceived very broadly, since peace is a fruit of charity: but every sin is opposed to charity. This means that, without precision, these sins remain vague, their contours imprecise and more or less overlapping with others on the list.

A List Tailored to Papal Concerns

Having made the above observations, it should be noted that these sins reflect the preoccupations of a Pope who has a personal conception of certain current issues, and who often comes to forget the essentials because of this bias. For example, his obsession with clericalism is in fact a contestation of authority—though not of his own...

The sin of doctrine “as stones to be hurled” targets a use of authority that is abusive in Francis' eyes, because it lacks “mercy,” something that can certainly happen. But beyond this, he is targeting doctrine as a reference point in the fight against any deviations that oppose Revelation. For the Pope, this is a lack of mercy, it is “hurling stones.”

As for the sin against migrants, it has taken on an increasingly sharp tone recently, to the point of asserting that turning away migrants is a grave sin. This would only be conceivable in cases of grave danger to the migrant's life. Moreover, political power remains the judge of what a society can admit or tolerate in terms of migratory activity.

But the one that appears most strikingly strange is the last one: “Sin against synodality” or “lack of listening, communion, and participation of all.”

It's worth remembering that sin, in its generality, means turning away from God and towards creatures (aversio a Deo et conversio ad creaturas). The moment our soul is captivated by one creature or another—food, money, power, lust...—and indulges in it to the point of preferring it to God, then sin occurs: this is grave sin.

Let's try to imagine a grave sin against synodality. Think of a clergyman, or possibly a member of the faithful, who, exercising a certain authority—for without it, it's hard to envisage a lack of participation—would systematically refuse to take advice, and would run his or her sphere of responsibility in a very individual way. A grave sin?

Should we go further and speak of tyranny? It should be remembered, however, that the exercise of authority in the Church is governed by canonical law and can therefore be regulated in the event of violations. Tyranny is not really imaginable, except perhaps at the head of the Church, and Francis' exercise of authority has more than once been described as such.

So what are we to think? Should we see this as an accusation against bishops—and possibly priests—who defend episcopal power and refuse to see it diluted in the “common priesthood” of the faithful? Should we see it as a “landmine” prepared for participants in the synodal Assembly who wish to reject what is being cunningly prepared in this Synod?

Should we anticipate a forthcoming sin “against democracy in the Church”, which would be nothing more than a negation of the hierarchical structure that Christ willed for the supernatural society He founded? But doesn't this sin against synodality already savor of that? It certainly does. And that is undoubtedly why it's on this list.

Conclusion

These seven new capital sins, some of which more or less cover sins that have always been considered as such, form one of the elements in the manifesto of a Pope—and of those who follow him—for a new definition of the Church, which is gradually being put in place, especially through the synod, thus completing the fulfillment of Vatican II.

It remains to be hoped that a sufficient number of participants—who have made no secret of their opposition on certain points—will know better than to beat their breasts and accuse themselves of sinning against synodality, and that they will make their opposition known during the synodal assembly. But it must be remembered that Francis will have the last word with the Post-Synodal Exhortation.