Is saying the f word a mortal sin?

Answer 1

Roman Catholic AnswerThat depends. For it to be a mortal sin, it must be a grave matter, have full knowledge and deliberate consent. Lacking in one of these would make the sin venial. However, do not be fooled, even venial sin is a really bad thing which offends God. St. Teresa once said that if we truly realized how awful sin was we would rather die than commit the smallest venial sin.

from The Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition, English translation 1994

1854 Sins are right evaluated according to their gravity. The distinction between mortal and venial sin, already evident in Scripture (Cf. 1 Jn 16-17), became part of the tradition of the Church. It is corroborated by human experience.

1855 Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God's law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him.

Venial sin allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it.

1856 Mortal sin, by attacking the vital principle within us-that is, charity-necessitates a new initiative of God's mercy and a conversion of heart which is normally accomplished within the setting of the sacrament of reconciliation:

When the will sets itself upon something that is of its nature incompatible with the charity that orients man toward his ultimate end, then the sin is mortal by its very object . . . whether it contradicts the love of God, such as blasphemy or perjury, or the love of neighbor, such as homicide or adultery . . . But when the sinner's will is set upon something that of its nature involves a disorder, but is opposed to the love of God and neighbor, such as thoughtless chatter or immoderate laughter and the like, such sins are venial. (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II, 88, 2, corp. art.)

1857 For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must be together met: "Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent. (Reconciliatio et paenitentia 17 § 12)

1858 Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: "do not kill, do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother." (Mk 10:19) The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger.

1859 Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God's law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart (Cf. Mk 2:5-6; Lk 16:19-31.) do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.

1860 Unintential ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man. The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest.

1861 Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as it love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God's forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ's kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.