398. What are vices?

398. What are vices?   

(Comp 398) Vices are the opposite of virtues. They are perverse habits which darken the conscience and incline one to evil. The vices can be linked to the seven, so-called, capital sins which are: pride, avarice, envy, anger, lust, gluttony, and sloth or acedia.

“In brief”

(CCC 1876) The repetition of sins - even venial ones - engenders vices, among which are the capital sins. 

To deepen and explain

(CCC 1866) Vices can be classified according to the virtues they oppose, or also be linked to the capital sins which Christian experience has distinguished, following St. John Cassian and St. Gregory the Great. They are called "capital" because they engender other sins, other vices (Cf. St. Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job, 31, 45: PL 76, 621A). They are pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth or acedia. 

Reflection

(CCC 1867) The catechetical tradition also recalls that there are "sins that cry to heaven": the blood of Abel  (Cf. Gen 4:10), the sin of the Sodomites (Cf. Gen 18:20; 19:13), the cry of the people oppressed in Egypt (Cf. Ex 3:7-10), the cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan (Cf. Ex 20:20-22), injustice to the wage earner (Cf. Deut 24:14-15; Jas 5:4). 

(Next question: Do we have any responsibility for sins committed by others?)