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.