Detraction

[eelpis]

Is detraction a venial or mortal sin? What’s the relationship between gossiping and detraction?

 

[KingAlfred]

Is detraction a venial or mortal sin? What’s the relationship between gossiping and detraction?

I try to avoid both, in my determination to achieve greater Christian discipline. I simply ask myself, *“Would Jesus do this?” *If not, I try not to either. I’m no saint, though. Sometimes I succumb to weakness and sin in this regard. It’s a daily battle at work, for example. Sometimes listening, while not contributing to, gossip, is a means of political survival.

 

[thistle]

Is detraction a venial or mortal sin? What’s the relationship between gossiping and detraction?

I think it can be either.

CCC 2477 Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury. **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;

• of calumny who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them.

CCC 2479 Detraction and calumny destroy the reputation and honor of one’s neighbor. Honor is the social witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect. Thus, detraction and calumny offend against the virtues of justice and charity.