YOUCAT Question n. 456 - What should you do if you have lied to, deceived, or betrayed someone?
(Youcat
answer) Every offense against truth and justice, even if it has been forgiven,
demands reparation.
A deepening through CCC
(CCC 2487)
Every offense committed against justice and truth entails the duty of reparation, even if its author
has been forgiven. When it is impossible publicly to make reparation for a
wrong, it must be made secretly. If someone who has suffered harm cannot be
directly compensated, he must be given moral satisfaction in the name of
charity. This duty of reparation also concerns offenses against another's
reputation. This reparation, moral and sometimes material, must be evaluated in
terms of the extent of the damage inflicted. It obliges in conscience.
Reflecting and meditating
(Youcat comment) If one cannot make amends publicly for a lie
or false testimony, one must at least do whatever one can secretly. If one
cannot compensate the injured party directly for the wrong, one is obliged in
conscience to give him moral satisfaction, in other words, one must do his best
so as to make at least symbolic reparation.
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 2412)
In virtue of commutative justice, reparation
for injustice committed requires the restitution of stolen goods to their
owner: Jesus blesses Zacchaeus for his pledge: "If I have defrauded anyone
of anything, I restore it fourfold" (Lk 19:8). Those who, directly or
indirectly, have taken possession of the goods of another, are obliged to make
restitution of them, or to return the equivalent in kind or in money, if the
goods have disappeared, as well as the profit or advantages their owner would
have legitimately obtained from them. Likewise, all who in some manner have
taken part in a theft or who have knowingly benefited from it - for example,
those who ordered it, assisted in it, or received the stolen goods - are
obliged to make restitution in proportion to their responsibility and to their
share of what was stolen.
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