Summa Theologiae Moralis, vol. I: De Principiis

S. Th. II-II, q. 10.

734. Infidelity in general. — Infidelity (ongeloovgheid), inasmuch as it is a state, is a defective want of faith, namely in one in whom faith ought to be ; hence the blessed and man in the state of pure nature, although they do not have faith, are not infidels, because faith ought not to be in them ; on the contrary, unbaptized little ones are infidels because they lack the faith which they would have had, if they had not sinned in Adam.

The state of infidelity is threefold : a) negative infidelity, or the want of faith in one who has never heard anything about the faith ; b) privative infidelity, or the want of faith in one who has neglected to acquire for himself sufficient knowledge of the faith ; c) contrary and positive infidelity, or the want of faith in one to whom it has been sufficiently proposed and who positively despises it (by the will) and rejects it (by the intellect). This is infidelity properly so called, because it alone arises from the sin of infidelity.

735. The sin of infidelity. — Infidelity, inasmuch as it is a sin, is the act by which someone deliberately disbelieves some truth which is sufficiently proposed to him as revealed by God. This act, on the part of the object, is directly opposed to the act of faith, for to will to believe and to be unwilling to believe, voluntarily to believe or to judge it to be true, and voluntarily to disbelieve or to judge it not to be true, are directly opposed from the object. Hence this act excludes faith by its nature, and therefore, as long as it is not retracted, a man cannot believe ; and the loss of the habit of faith necessarily follows from it itself. It is said in the definition :

a) act, so that the sin of infidelity be distinguished from the state of infidelity ;

b) by which one deliberately disbelieves, i.e. refuses assent or adherence : for just as the act of faith is voluntarily to assent to revealed things, so the act of infidelity is voluntarily to dissent from them. Hence S. Thomas says the sin of infidelity is in the intellect : it is not a mere omission or ignorance of faith, but a sin of commission by which one positively resists faith and rejects it, which, however, has ignorance joined to it (a. 3, ad 2) ;

c) some truth revealed by God, for the denial or doubt of one article or point suffices for one to lose faith. For he who rejects the authority of God revealing in one thing cannot receive it in another, because it is always and in all things of equal weight and value. Hence a heretic, if he adheres to other articles, does so no longer by divine faith on account of God's authority, but either by human faith or by his own opinion (n. 678) ;

d) which is sufficiently proposed : if some truth is invincibly ignored, indeed even if from entirely culpable negligence and ignorance it is insufficiently known, faith in it is not therefore denied, nor is the sin of infidelity committed, nor is faith excluded or lost¹] : for the will not to inquire about the faith is not the will not to believe, indeed with it the will to believe the truth if it is sufficiently proposed can co-exist, because they are not directly opposed from the object, as is evident in one who does not wish to inquire about the faith, and who, compelled to hear the faith, believes.

Therefore the sin of infidelity arises from the contempt of the will and the obstinacy of the intellect, and so it can also be defined : a voluntary error resisting faith with obstinacy.

736. Corollaries. — From the foregoing doctrine it follows :

1° Only positive infidelity includes the sin of infidelity : for negative infidelity, since it is invincible, is no sin (John XV ; Rom. X ; prop. 68 of Baius condemned), whence, says S. Thomas, « those who are infidels in this way are indeed damned on account of other sins which cannot be remitted without faith, but they are not damned on account of the sin of infidelity » ; — privative infidelity, however, does not include the sin of infidelity (which is a sin of commission), but the sin of ignorance in the faith (which is a sin of omission), by which someone voluntarily lacks sufficient knowledge of the faith. Which sin, if it arises from grave negligence, will be mortal.

2° The mere denial of exterior faith is not properly infidelity, and therefore does not exclude the virtue of faith, because with it the will of believing interiorly can co-exist, since they are not directly opposed from the object.

3° Since the sin of infidelity supposes a sufficient proposition of faith, it follows that no one loses the habit of faith without fault²] (Vat. Counc., sess. 3, c. 3 and can. 6). Hence a special property belongs to faith on the part of the subject, namely irrevocability.

737. The sin of infidelity is mortal of its whole genus (Mk. XVI, 16), because it always contains contempt of the authority of God revealing, and therefore is a sin against the Holy Spirit, as from contempt rejecting the means necessary for salvation. And it is of itself the most grave, with the sole exception of the hatred of God. For since by the theological virtues we are directed and principally converted to God, hence the sins directly opposed to them directly and principally imply an aversion from God, and therefore are graver than the sins directly opposed to moral virtues : thus by infidelity man is more separated and estranged from God, because he has not even the true knowledge of God.

Moreover, infidelity is graver than despair, because it is opposed to the truth of God as it is in itself ; but despair is against God inasmuch as His good is participated by us. But the hatred of God is graver, because what makes all other sins to be sins, namely voluntary aversion from God, is directly and of itself intended in this sin, and is its very essence.

Often, however, infidelity is a less grave sin because of circumstances, e.g. ignorance.

738. Diverse modes of infidelity. — Infidelity can be considered 1) on the part of the act and mode in which it is committed ; 2) on the part of the subject who commits it ; 3) on the part of the object about which it is committed.

The mode in which it is committed is manifold : 1° with respect to the formal object : a) by denying God's truth in speaking or doubting about it ; b) by denying the fact of revelation or doubting about it ; c) by admitting the revealed truth, not on account of God's authority, but exclusively on account of one's own reason ; — 2° with respect to the material object : a) by denying a revealed truth proposed, or assenting to an opinion incompatible with revealed doctrine ; b) by assenting to a revealed truth not firmly, but with fear of the opposite ; c) by deliberately and positively doubting about it itself, i.e. suspending the assent, not indeed because one wishes now to attend to other things, or not to fatigue the mind, or to inquire more conveniently into the motives of assenting, or something similar, but precisely because one positively thinks or fears that the proposed truth could be false. For all these manifestly exclude the will of firmly believing and the firm voluntary adherence on account of God revealing, and so are at least implicitly a denial of faith.

739. Species of infidelity. — On the part of the object infidelity can be considered : 1° According to the corruption of the truths of faith, and thus its species are indefinite, because errors can be multiplied indefinitely : these species are diverse but only according to physical being, and not according to moral being, because they do not include a diverse opposition to reason.

2° According to the diverse relation to faith, and thus at present three principal species are distinguished : paganism (to which Mohammedanism, deism, atheism, etc. are referred), Judaism, and heresy. A pagan is one who recognizes neither faith nor redemption ; a Jew recognizes a Redeemer but thinks He has still to come ; a heretic recognizes Christ the Redeemer, but corrupts His dogmas. These are three morally distinct species, because errors are diversely opposed to faith, either to faith which is not received, or to faith which is received³] either in figure or in the manifestation of truth ; moreover, they often include diverse superstitions or are punished by diverse punishments. Hence those species are to be declared in confession.

These can be considered in two ways :

1) Objectively as to the formal notion of evil ; now indeed :

a) if they are considered according to the corruption of the truths of faith and the number of errors, paganism is graver than Judaism, and Judaism graver than heresy ;

b) if, however, they are considered according to the diverse relation to faith, heresy is graver than Judaism, and Judaism graver than paganism, because it is graver to resist faith which is received in the manifestation of truth than faith which is received in figure, and this than to resist faith which is not received, just as it is graver not to fulfill what one has promised than what one has not promised.

2) Hence also subjectively on the part of the sinner, as to the formal notion of fault, heresy is ordinarily graver, because heretics ordinarily have a better knowledge of the faith than the Jews, and therefore more voluntarily oppose it and with greater obstinacy ; — similarly Jews than pagans. In an extraordinary case, however, they could have an equal knowledge of the faith.

740. Are infidels to be compelled to the faith ? — Unbaptized infidels cannot be compelled by external force to receive the faith, because to believe is of the will ; for neither can they be compelled by the Church, over whose power they are not subject, nor by civil society, which does not enjoy spiritual jurisdiction. They can, however, be compelled not to impede by blasphemies, persuasions, persecutions, the preaching or exercise of the faith in their lands, because the Church has received from Christ the right of preaching everywhere. Indeed they can be compelled by their own rulers, both to keep the law of nature (and natural religion), on the observance of which the right civil order is founded, and also sometimes to hear the faith.

Baptized infidels, on the other hand, can be compelled by spiritual and corporal punishments to return to the faith and the Church, because through Baptism they have become subjects of the Church (Council of Trent, sess. 7, can. 14).

741. Are the rites of infidels to be tolerated ? — The rites of infidels cannot be approved or favored by Christian rulers (Syllabus, prop. 77-79) ; they can, however, sometimes be tolerated, if from their prohibition greater evils would be feared, or greater goods be impeded : thus God tolerates evils in the world lest worse be incurred, or better things be impeded. Hence the rites of the Jews are moderately tolerated, from whose preservation we have a great testimony of our faith (Const. Imm. Dei; encyclical Libertas of Leo XIII).

742. Observation. — Children of infidels cannot, as a rule, be baptized against the will of their parents ; on which see the treatise on Baptism.

S. Th. II-II, q. 11 and 12.

743. Various conditions of infidelity. — On the part of the sinner, infidelity is called either apostasy, or heresy, or simple infidelity. An apostate is one who formerly totally rejects the faith of Christ received ; a heretic, one who at some time (at least now) professes the faith of Christ received, but corrupts the dogmata which it pertains to the Church to propose ; simply an infidel, one who never received the faith of Christ. But so that one may be held an apostate or heretic fully, that is, even in the external forum and before the Church, it is required that he has received the faith (at least externally) by a solemn profession in Baptism, and has denied this faith, which has been explicitly proposed by the Church to be believed, either totally or partially (can. 1325, § 2).

744. Heresy (ketterij) etymologically signifies choice, whence in the whole Catholic tradition it designates the error of one who, having received the faith especially in Baptism, adheres to Christ and is unwilling to receive the rule of faith from the Church, but chooses for himself, i.e. from perfect deliberation firmly establishes the rule of belief¹(/works/summa-theologiae-prima-pars) says that choice signifies what one wills firmly after perfect consideration..

It is usually defined : a voluntary and pertinacious error in the Catholic faith, in one who professes the faith of Christ. The following are indicated :

1) the material element :

a) error, i.e. an erroneous judgment of the intellect, not mere ignorance, whence a heretic is not one who only externally denies the faith from some external pressure

b) in faith, i.e. in revealed truth, whence he is not a heretic who only denies a truth connected with the revealed, even if infallibly defined by the Church, such as a theological conclusion or a dogmatic fact. Thus heresy is distinguished from simple error, against ecclesiastical faith or the obedience due to the Church teaching ;

c) Catholic, i.e. in some revealed truth directed to all which the Church proposes to be believed ; so that in the one denying there is at the same time contempt of the authority of God and of the Church : thus heresy is distinguished from infidelity, which can also be opposed to divine faith alone ;

d) voluntary, otherwise it would not be an act of infidelity by which one is unwilling to believe God and the Church and departs from them ; whence he who, adhering to the Church, from ignorance even culpable would not know that something has been proposed by the Church to be believed, and would deny it, would not be a heretic even materially : thus heresy is distinguished from mere ignorance of faith ;

2) the formal element : pertinacious, so that one opposes the authority of God and the Church, not indeed from ignorance even culpable, but knowingly and willingly, i.e. by an evil will, when the truth and this authority is sufficiently proposed to him, whether from pride or vainglory, or from a desire to contradict, or from levity, or from whatever other cause ; whence he who, from ignorance even culpable, would not know that obedience is to be given to the Church in faith, could sin, but would not be a formal heretic but only material : thus heresy properly so called and formal is distinguished from heresy merely material ;

3) the subject : in one who professes the faith of Christ, i.e.

in one who has received it, especially by Baptism, and has not totally rejected it : thus heresy is distinguished from apostasy and from simple infidelity.

745. Heresy differs from infidelity, as species from genus : for heresy adds something to infidelity.

1) Infidelity can be in every man, using reason ; heresy is only in a Christian, especially baptized.

2) Infidelity says only the negation of faith in those things which God has revealed ; heresy, however, the negation of faith in those things which are proposed by the Church as revealed and to be believed ; whence one who denies a private revelation made to him would not commit heresy but the sin of infidelity, and he who denies a truth which he certainly knows pertains to public revelation but which the Church does not explicitly propose to be believed, would be a heretic but not in the full sense and before the Church.

3) Infidelity is opposed to divine faith, heresy to Catholic faith.

746. Heresy is variously divided. — Heresy is either material²] or formal. Material heresy denies the authority of the Church in proposing faith without pertinacity, because it has not been sufficiently proposed ; formal heresy sufficiently knows the authority of the Church, but refuses to embrace the faith of the true Church and denies it in at least one point. — It is either internal, which lies hidden in the mind so that it is manifested by no external sign ; or external, which is manifested by external signs (by words, signs, deeds, omission of a deed), even if no one sees them ; this is either hidden, which is manifested to no one or to only one or another, or public, which is manifested openly and before many externally.

The signs because of which one is to be considered a material heretic, are usually indicated as : 1) if he is ready to submit himself to the judgment of the Church, when he recognizes his error, even if meanwhile he holds his opinion stubbornly ; 2) if he has known nothing of the Catholic faith, and has never doubted of his own ; 3) if, doubting, he has tried to recognize the truth, as much as he could. — But he who, from human fear or negligence, postpones his conversion to the faith, is not therefore a heretic ; he sins, however, against the affirmative precept of faith, if he defers it for a long time.

On the contrary, one is to be considered pertinacious and therefore a formal heretic : 1) who doubts, and from pertinacity, or from contempt of the Church, refuses to inquire further ; — 2) who, of set purpose, turns his intellect away from a sufficiently proposed truth, so that he may adhere to his sect or opinion ; — 3) who, having recognized the truth, persists in contradicting the Church, as the heresiarchs are wont to do out of hatred of the Pope or of the Church. — These are the three principal degrees of pertinacity, of which the first is founded in a truth studiously neglected ; the second, in a truth sufficiently proposed but despised ; the third, in a recognized truth maliciously opposed.

747. The sin of heresy is most grave, (n. 737 and 739), since it of itself merits corporal together with spiritual punishments.

Concerning corporal punishments S. Thomas teaches : « It is much graver to corrupt faith, by which is the life of the soul, than to falsify money, by which temporal life is aided. Hence if forgers of money or other evildoers are justly handed over to death by secular rulers, much more so heretics, as soon as they are convicted of heresy, can not only be excommunicated but also justly killed » (a. 3). Death, however, although it can be decreed by the Church, is not to be inflicted by her.

Spiritual punishments are inflicted by Canon Law ; according to which heretics :

1) incur by the fact itself excommunication specially reserved to the Roman Pontiff (can. 2314, § 1),

2) unless, when warned, they repent, they are to be deprived of any benefice, dignity, pension, office, or other function which they have in the Church, they are to be declared infamous, and clerics, after a repeated warning, are to be deposed (ib.),

3) indeed, if they have given their name to a non-Catholic sect or publicly adhered to it, they are by the fact itself infamous, and clerics, after a previous warning, are to be degraded (ib.),

4) they are irregular (can. 985),

5) they are deprived of ecclesiastical burial (can. 1240, § 1).

For incurring which punishments, formal heresy together with external is required, but for the 3rd and 5th also public³ arises against it, is bound under grave obligation to inquire about the faith and to ask light of God ; if he neglects this, he sins by the sin of ignorance in faith, which is grave if the negligence is grave. But he cannot practically admit the doubt and abandon the faith, even if, having made the inquiry, the opposite of faith appears probable, but he is bound to inquire until he arrives at a certitude proportioned to his mind. The reason is, that in matters of salvation the safer course must be taken. Similarly, the law of nature requires that we always have religion toward God. Hence we must retain what has been admitted on authority until we can by our own reason sufficiently effect conviction, which mere probability is not.

The same is to be said of a heretic and an infidel who doubt about their religion.