Would you consider this a sin?

[CatholicRoots]

I have been disconcerted over whether watching things on youtube, such as films if they have been uploaded is considered a sin. (Since I’m not paying for using youtube or watching the film) I have recently watched a film to do with Padre Pio on youtube called Miracle man and I really enjoyed it/ found it edifying and wanted to watch it again but then wondered whether it is a sin. What do you all think?

 

[Anna_Claire]

Not a sin…You Tube is free.

 

[Barbkw]

YouTube gets money from various advertisers - making all the videos free for public viewing.

 

[followingtheway]

Not a sin at all. Youtube has good videos and bad videos. Like the Pope said

Pope Pius XI, Vigilanti cura (#18), June 29, 1936: “The power of the cinema is due to the fact that it speaks through the medium of living images, which are assimilated with delight and without difficulty, even by those who are untrained and uneducated, and who would be incapable or unwilling to make the efforts of induction or deduction necessary in reasoning. For to read, or to listen to another reading aloud demands a certain concentration and mental effort; an effort which in the cinema is replaced by the delight of a continuous stream of living images presented to the eyes….These theatres, being like the school of life itself, have a greater influence in inciting men to virtue or vice than abstract reasoning.”

 

[DexUK]

While it’s possible that Youtube may contain videos that should not be there for copyright reasons, beyond using prudence about what you watch - i.e. it’s unlikely that a complete version of, say, War Horse, would be licitly on Youtube so you probably shouldn’t watch it and, indeed, Youtube probably wouldn’t want it on their systems anyway - I’d say it’s not really your responsibility to check to see if a video is meant to be there or not.

Obviously the situation changes if you find a way of ‘ripping’ Youtube video content, since then you are making a private copy of something to which you may not be entitled, but in general terms, just watching something on Youtube isn’t sinful unless the content itself is sinful.

So, for all practical purposes, don’t worry about it.

 

[CarrieH]

No worries. If a video turns out to be in violation of copyright laws, YouTube will delete it. Advertising covers the cost. So enjoy your videos.

 

[Barbkw]

I have been disconcerted over whether watching things on youtube, such as films if they have been uploaded is considered a sin.

EWTN has a youTube channel:

youtube.com/user/EWTN

Great Catholic programs on there.

As a convert you might enjoy “The Journey Home” series.

The daily homily is available on EWTN youTube as well.