How can laughter be a sin?

[MissScarlet]

I was reading a book on things Catholics should know and it talked about the difference between mortal and venial sin. I thought I understood it, but then in examples of venial sin it mentioned things like “immoderate laughter.” I didn’t know laughter could be a sin, so I was curious what the Church considers to be a venial sin- how do we tell if something like laughter “offends and wounds” charity but still allows it to subsist?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

The theological phrase “immoderate laughter” might be better understood through the culture term schadenfreude, which is generally defined as:

Malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else’s misfortune.

Finding humor in something that causes another person pain (physical or emotional) would be wrong. Another element of this would be being amused by inappropriate “jokes” (i.e. racist, sexist, etc).

Its not that laughter, in and of itself, is wrong. Its that what is causing us to laugh is an attitude that is contrary to the virtue of charity.