This petition goes to the root of the preceding one, for our Sins result from our consenting to temptation; we therefore ask our Father not to "lead" us into temptation. It is difficult to translate the Greek verb used by a single English word: the Greek means both "do not allow us to enter into temptation" and "do not let us yield to temptation." 150 "God cannot be tempted by Evil and he himself tempts no one"; 151 on the Contrary, he wants to set us free from evil. We ask him not to allow us to take the way that leads to sin. We are engaged in the battle "between flesh and spirit"; this petition implores the Spirit of discernment and strength.

Non-combatants, wounded soldiers, and prisoners must be Respected and treated humanely. Actions deliberately Contrary to the law of nations and to its universal principles are crimes, as are the orders that command such actions. Blind obedience does not suffice to excuse those who carry them out. Thus the extermination of a people, nation, or ethnic minority must be condemned as a mortal Sin. One is morally bound to resist orders that command genocide.

Deliberate hatred is Contrary to Charity. Hatred of the neighbor is a Sin when one deliberately wishes him Evil. Hatred of the neighbor is a grave sin when one deliberately desires him grave harm. "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven." 96

In times past, cruel practices were commonly used by legitimate governments to maintain law and order, often without protest from the Pastors of the Church, who themselves adopted in their own tribunals the prescriptions of Roman law concerning torture. Regrettable as these facts are, the Church always taught the duty of clemency and mercy. She forbade clerics to shed blood. In recent times it has become evident that these cruel practices were neither necessary for public order, nor in conformity with the legitimate rights of the human person. On the Contrary, these practices led to ones even more degrading. It is necessary to work for their abolition. We must pray for the victims and their tormentors.

Kidnapping and hostage taking bring on a reign of terror; by means of threats they subject their victims to intolerable pressures. They are morally wrong. Terrorism threatens, wounds, and kills indiscriminately; it is gravely against Justice and Charity. Torture which uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents, or satisfy hatred is Contrary to Respect for the person and for human Dignity. Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical Reasons, directly intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent persons are against the moral law. 90

Research or experimentation on the human being cannot legitimate acts that are in themselves Contrary to the Dignity of persons and to the moral law. the subjects' potential consent does not justify such acts. Experimentation on human beings is not morally legitimate if it exposes the subject's life or physical and psychological integrity to disproportionate or avoidable risks. Experimentation on human beings does not conform to the dignity of the person if it takes place without the informed consent of the subject or those who legitimately speak for him.

The use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life. Their use, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offense. Clandestine production of and trafficking in drugs are scandalous practices. They constitute direct co-operation in Evil, Since they encourage people to practices gravely Contrary to the moral law.

If suicide is committed with the intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it also takes on the gravity of scandal. Voluntary co-operation in suicide is Contrary to the moral law. Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.

Suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life. It is gravely Contrary to the just Love of self. It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue to have obligations. Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.

"One must hold as licit procedures carried out on the human embryo which Respect the life and integrity of the embryo and do not involve disproportionate risks for it, but are directed toward its healing the improvement of its condition of health, or its individual survival." 82 "It is immoral to produce human embryos intended for exploitation as disposable biological material." 83 "Certain attempts to influence chromosomic or genetic inheritance are not therapeutic but are aimed at producing human beings selected according to sex or other predetermined qualities. Such manipulations are Contrary to the personal Dignity of the human being and his integrity and identity" 84 which are unique and unrepeatable.

Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral Evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely Contrary to the moral law:

Scripture specifies the prohibition contained in the fifth commandment: "Do not slay the innocent and the righteous." 61 The deliberate murder of an innocent person is gravely Contrary to the Dignity of the human being, to the golden rule, and to the holiness of the Creator. the law forbidding it is universally valid: it obliges each and everyone, always and everywhere.

By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action." 137 "The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever Reason, outside of marriage is essentially Contrary to its purpose." For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true Love is achieved." 138 To form an equitable Judgment about the subjects' moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety, or other psychological or social factors that lessen or even extenuate moral culpability.

Fornication is carnal union between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman. It is gravely Contrary to the Dignity of persons and of human sexuality which is naturally ordered to the good of spouses and the generation and education of children. Moreover, it is a grave scandal when there is corruption of the young.

Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. BaSing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, 140 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." 141 They are Contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

Prayer is a vital necessity. Proof from the Contrary is no less convincing: if we do not allow the Spirit to lead us, we fall back into the slavery of Sin. 38 How can the Holy Spirit be our life if our heart is far from him?

All Christ's faithful are to "direct their affections rightly, lest they be hindered in their pursuit of perfect Charity by the use of worldly things and by an adherence to riches which is Contrary to the spirit of evangelical poverty." 336

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

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.

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.

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.

Recourse to a strike is morally legitimate when it cannot be avoided, or at least when it is necessary to obtain a proportionate benefit. It becomes morally unacceptable when accompanied by violence, or when objectives are included that are not directly linked to working conditions or are Contrary to the common good. 2436 Unemployment almost always wounds its victim's Dignity and threatens the equilibrium of his life. Besides the harm done to him personally, it entails many risks for his family. 222

The responsibility of the state. "Economic activity, especially the activity of a market economy, cannot be conducted in an institutional, juridical, or political vacuum. On the Contrary, it presupposes sure guarantees of individual freedom and private property, as well as a stable currency and efficient public services. Hence the principal task of the state is to guarantee this security, so that those who work and produce can enjoy the fruits of their labors and thus feel encouraged to work efficiently and honestly.... Another task of the state is that of overseeing and directing the exercise of human rights in the economic sector. However, primary responsibility in this area belongs not to the state but to individuals and to the various groups and associations which make up society." 216

A theory that makes profit the exclusive norm and ultimate end of economic activity is morally unacceptable. the disordered desire for money cannot but produce perverse effects. It is one of the causes of the many conflicts which disturb the social order. 203 A system that "subordinates the basic rights of individuals and of groups to the collective organization of production" is Contrary to human Dignity. 204 Every practice that reduces persons to nothing more than a means of profit enslaves man, leads to idolizing money, and contributes to the spread of atheism. "You cannot serve God and mammon." 205

It is Contrary to human Dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery. One can Love animals; one should not direct to them the affection due only to persons.

Games of chance (card games, etc.) or wagers are not in themselves Contrary to Justice. They become morally unacceptable when they deprive someone of what is necessary to provide for his needs and those of others. the passion for gambling risks becoming an enslavement. Unfair wagers and cheating at games constitute grave matter, unless the damage inflicted is so slight that the one who suffers it cannot Reasonably consider it significant.

The seventh commandment forbids theft, that is, usurping another's property against the Reasonable will of the owner. There is no theft if consent can be presumed or if refusal is Contrary to reason and the universal destination of goods. This is the case in obvious and urgent necessity when the only way to provide for immediate, essential needs (food, shelter, clothing . . .) is to put at one's disposal and use the property of others. 190

The predicament of a man who, desiring to convert to the Gospel, is obliged to repudiate one or more wives with whom he has shared years of conjugal life, is understandable. However polygamy is not in accord with the moral law." [Conjugal] communion is radically contradicted by polygamy; this, in fact, directly negates the plan of God which was revealed from the beginning, because it is Contrary to the equal personal Dignity of men and women who in matrimony give themselves with a Love that is total and therefore unique and exclusive." 179 The Christian who has previously lived in polygamy has a grave duty in Justice to honor the obligations contracted in regard to his former wives and his children.

Techniques involving only the married couple (homologous artificial insemination and fertilization) are perhaps less reprehensible, yet remain morally unacceptable. They dissociate the sexual act from the procreative act. the act which brings the child into existence is no longer an act by which two persons give themselves to one another, but one that "entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. Such a relationship of domination is in itself Contrary to the Dignity and equality that must be common to parents and children." 167 "Under the moral aspect procreation is deprived of its proper perfection when it is not willed as the fruit of the conjugal act, that is to say, of the specific act of the spouses' union .... Only Respect for the link between the meanings of the conjugal act and respect for the unity of the human being make possible procreation in conformity with the dignity of the person." 168

The state has a responsibility for its citizens' well-being. In this capacity it is legitimate for it to intervene to orient the demography of the population. This can be done by means of objective and Respectful information, but certainly not by authoritarian, coercive measures. the state may not legitimately usurp the initiative of spouses, who have the primary responsibility for the procreation and education of their children. 161 It is not authorized to intervene in this area with means Contrary to the moral law.

The citizen is obliged in Conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are Contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel. RefuSing obedience to civil authorities, when their demands are contrary to those of an upright conscience, finds its justification in the distinction between serving God and serving the political community. "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." 48 "We must obey God rather than men": 49

Those who exercise authority should do so as a service. "Whoever would be great among you must be your servant." 41 The exercise of authority is measured morally in terms of its divine origin, its Reasonable nature and its specific object. No one can command or establish what is Contrary to the Dignity of persons and the natural law.

When they become adults, children have the right and duty to choose their profession and state of life. They should assume their new responsibilities within a trusting relationship with their parents, willingly asking and receiving their advice and counsel. Parents should be careful not to exert pressure on their children either in the choice of a profession or in that of a spouse. This necessary restraint does not prevent them - quite the Contrary from giving their children judicious advice, particularly when they are planning to start a family.

If - on the Contrary - the ignorance is invincible, or the moral subject is not responsible for his erroneous Judgment, the Evil committed by the person cannot be imputed to him. It remains no less an evil, a privation, a disorder. One must therefore work to correct the errors of moral Conscience.

Faced with a moral choice, Conscience can make either a right Judgment in accordance with Reason and the divine law or, on the Contrary, an erroneous judgment that departs from them.

Man has the right to act in Conscience and in freedom so as personally to make moral decisions. "He must not be forced to act Contrary to his conscience. Nor must he be prevented from acting according to his conscience, especially in religious matters." 53

Freedom and grace. the grace of Christ is not in the slightest way a rival of our freedom when this freedom accords with the sense of the true and the good that God has put in the human heart. On the Contrary, as Christian experience attests especially in prayer, the more docile we are to the promptings of grace, the more we grow in inner freedom and confidence during trials, such as those we face in the pressures and constraints of the outer world. By the working of grace the Holy Spirit educates us in spiritual freedom in order to make us free collaborators in his work in the Church and in the world:

The way of Christ "leads to life"; a Contrary way "leads to destruction." 20 The Gospel parable of the two ways remains ever present in the catechesis of the Church; it shows the importance of moral decisions for our salvation: "There are two ways, the one of life, the other of death; but between the two, there is a great difference." 21

"The unity of marriage, distinctly recognized by our Lord, is made clear in the equal personal Dignity which must be accorded to man and wife in mutual and unreserved affection." 153 Polygamy is Contrary to conjugal Love which is undivided and exclusive. 154

We also call these spiritual goods of the communion of saints the Church's treasury, which is "not the sum total of the material goods which have accumulated during the course of the centuries. On the Contrary the 'treasury of the Church' is the infinite value, which can never be exhausted, which Christ's merits have before God. They were offered so that the whole of mankind could be set free from Sin and attain communion with the Father. In Christ, the Redeemer himself, the satisfactions and merits of his Redemption exist and find their effficacy." 87

Death is a consequence of Sin. the Church's Magisterium, as authentic interpreter of the affirmations of Scripture and Tradition, teaches that death entered the world on account of man's sin. 569 Even though man's nature is mortal God had destined him not to die. Death was therefore Contrary to the plans of God the Creator and entered the world as a consequence of sin. 570 "Bodily death, from which man would have been immune had he not sinned" is thus "the last enemy" of man left to be conquered. 571

"When we made our first profession of faith while receiving the holy Baptism that cleansed us, the forgiveness we received then was so full and complete that there remained in us absolutely nothing left to efface, neither original Sin nor offenses committed by our own will, nor was there left any penalty to suffer in order to expiate them.... Yet the grace of Baptism delivers no one from all the weakness of nature. On the Contrary, we must still combat the movements of concupiscence that never cease leading us into Evil " 521

"So it is that the union of the wayfarers with the brethren who sleep in the peace of Christ is in no way interrupted, but on the Contrary, according to the constant faith of the Church, this union is reinforced by an exchange of spiritual goods." 492

"The power which they exercise personally in the name of Christ, is proper, ordinary, and immediate, although its exercise is ultimately controlled by the supreme authority of the Church." 427 But the bishops should not be thought of as vicars of the Pope. His ordinary and immediate authority over the whole Church does not annul, but on the Contrary confirms and defends that of the bishops. Their authority must be exercised in communion with the whole Church under the guidance of the Pope.

Even when faced with the reality of the risen Jesus the disciples are still doubtful, so impossible did the thing seem: they thought they were seeing a ghost. "In their joy they were still disbelieving and still wondering." 506 Thomas will also experience the test of doubt and St. Matthew relates that during the risen Lord's last appearance in Galilee "some doubted." 507 Therefore the hypothesis that the Resurrection was produced by the apostles' faith (or credulity) will not hold up. On the Contrary their faith in the Resurrection was born, under the action of divine grace, from their direct experience of the reality of the risen Jesus.

Jesus' temptation reveals the way in which the Son of God is Messiah, Contrary to the way Satan proposes to him and the way men wish to attribute to him. 244 This is why Christ vanquished the Tempter for us: "For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every Respect has been tested as we are, yet without Sinning." 245 By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.

After his fall, man was not abandoned by God. On the Contrary, God calls him and in a mysterious way heralds the coming victory over Evil and his restoration from his fall. 304 This passage in Genesis is called the Protoevangelium ("first gospel"): the first announcement of the Messiah and Redeemer, of a battle between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of hers.

The Church's teaching on the transmission of original Sin was articulated more precisely in the fifth century, especially under the impulse of St. Augustine's reflections against Pelagianism, and in the sixteenth century, in opposition to the Protestant Reformation. Pelagius held that man could, by the natural power of free will and without the necessary help of God's grace, lead a morally good life; he thus reduced the influence of Adam's fault to bad example. the first Protestant reformers, on the Contrary, taught that original sin has radically perverted man and destroyed his freedom; they identified the sin inherited by each man with the tendency to Evil (concupiscentia), which would be insurmountable. the Church pronounced on the meaning of the data of Revelation on original sin especially at the second Council of Orange (529) 296 and at the Council of Trent (1546). 297

The "mastery" over the world that God offered man from the beginning was realized above all within man himself: mastery of self. the first man was unimpaired and ordered in his whole being because he was free from the triple concupiscence 254 that subjugates him to the pleasures of the senses, covetousness for earthly goods, and self-assertion, Contrary to the dictates of Reason.

Jesus himself affirms that God is "the one Lord" whom you must Love "with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength". 6 At the same time Jesus gives us to understand that he himself is "the Lord". 7 To confess that Jesus is Lord is distinctive of Christian faith. This is not Contrary to belief in the One God. Nor does believing in the Holy Spirit as "Lord and giver of life" introduce any division into the One God:

Sin is an offense against Reason, truth, and right Conscience; it is failure in genuine Love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as "an utterance, a deed, or a desire Contrary to the eternal law." 121

Thus Sin makes men accomplices of one another and causes concupiscence, violence, and inJustice to reign among them. Sins give rise to social situations and institutions that are Contrary to the divine goodness. "Structures of sin" are the expression and effect of personal sins. They lead their victims to do Evil in their turn. In an analogous sense, they constitute a "social sin." 144

The holiness of the divine name demands that we neither use it for trivial matters, nor take an oath which on the basis of the circumstances could be interpreted as approval of an authority unjustly requiring it. When an oath is required by illegitimate civil authorities, it may be refused. It must be refused when it is required for purposes Contrary to the Dignity of persons or to ecclesial communion.

A person commits perjury when he makes a promise under oath with no intention of keeping it, or when after promiSing on oath he does not keep it. Perjury is a grave lack of Respect for the Lord of all speech. Pledging oneself by oath to commit an Evil deed is Contrary to the holiness of the divine name.

Blasphemy is directly opposed to the second commandment. It consists in uttering against God - inwardly or outwardly - words of hatred, reproach, or defiance; in speaking ill of God; in failing in Respect toward him in one's speech; in misuSing God's name. St. James condemns those "who blaspheme that honorable name [of Jesus] by which you are called." 78 The prohibition of blasphemy extends to language against Christ's Church, the saints, and sacred things. It is also blasphemous to make use of God's name to cover up criminal practices, to reduce peoples to servitude, to torture persons or put them to death. the misuse of God's name to commit a crime can provoke others to repudiate religion. Blasphemy is Contrary to the respect due God and his holy name. It is in itself a grave sin. 79

The Christian veneration of images is not Contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, "the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype," and "whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it." 70 The honor paid to sacred images is a "Respectful veneration," not the adoration due to God alone:

All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one's service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely Contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of Evil powers or the exploitation of another's credulity.

The first commandment forbids honoring Gods other than the one Lord who has revealed himself to his people. It proscribes superstition and irreligion. Superstition in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion; irreligion is the vice Contrary by defect to the virtue of religion.

One can Sin against God's Love in various ways: - indifference neglects or refuses to reflect on divine Charity; it fails to consider its prevenient goodness and denies its power. - ingratitude fails or refuses to acknowledge divine charity and to return him love for love. - lukewarmness is hesitation or negligence in responding to divine love; it can imply refusal to give oneself over to the prompting of charity. - acedia or spiritual sloth goes so far as to refuse the joy that comes from God and to be repelled by divine goodness. - hatred of God comes from pride. It is Contrary to love of God, whose goodness it denies, and whom it presumes to curse as the one who forbids sins and inflicts punishments.

The first commandment is also concerned with Sins against hope, namely, despair and presumption: By despair, man ceases to hope for his personal salvation from God, for help in attaining it or for the forgiveness of his sins. Despair is Contrary to God's goodness, to his Justice - for the Lord is faithful to his promises - and to his mercy.

Besides its precepts, the New Law also includes the evangelical counsels. the traditional distinction between God's commandments and the evangelical counsels is drawn in relation to Charity, the perfection of Christian life. the precepts are intended to remove whatever is incompatible with charity. the aim of the counsels is to remove whatever might hinder the development of charity, even if it is not Contrary to it. 32

The Old Law is the first stage of revealed Law. Its moral prescriptions are summed up in the Ten Commandments. the precepts of the Decalogue lay the foundations for the vocation of man fashioned in the image of God; they prohibit what is Contrary to the Love of God and neighbor and prescribe what is essential to it. the Decalogue is a light offered to the Conscience of every man to make God's call and ways known to him and to protect him against Evil:

Authority is exercised legitimately only when it seeks the common good of the group concerned and if it employs morally licit means to attain it. If rulers were to enact unjust laws or take measures Contrary to the moral order, such arrangements would not be binding in Conscience. In such a case, "authority breaks down completely and results in shameful abuse." 23

If authority belongs to the order established by God, "the choice of the political regime and the appointment of rulers are left to the free decision of the citizens." 20 The diversity of political regimes is morally acceptable, provided they serve the legitimate good of the communities that adopt them. Regimes whose nature is Contrary to the natural law, to the public order, and to the fundamental rights of persons cannot achieve the common good of the nations on which they have been imposed.

It is necessary, then, to appeal to the spiritual and moral capacities of the human person and to the permanent need for his inner conversion, so as to obtain social changes that will really serve him. the acknowledged priority of the conversion of heart in no way eliminates but on the Contrary imposes the obligation of bringing the appropriate remedies to institutions and living conditions when they are an inducement to Sin, so that they conform to the norms of Justice and advance the good rather than hinder it. 12

Believing is possible only by grace and the interior helps of the Holy Spirit. But it is no less true that believing is an authentically human act. Trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he has revealed is Contrary neither to human freedom nor to human Reason. Even in human relations it is not contrary to our Dignity to believe what other persons tell us about themselves and their intentions, or to trust their promises (for example, when a man and a woman marry) to share a communion of life with one another. If this is so, still less is it contrary to our dignity to "yield by faith the full submission of... intellect and will to God who reveals", 26 and to share in an interior communion with him.