Decalogue: Do Not Slander, Catholic Catechism and St Thomas Aquinas CCC 2465-2503

Decalogue: Do Not Slander, Catholic Catechism 2465-2503, and St Thomas Aquinas

Today we will learn and reflect on the Eighth Commandment, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST YOUR NEIGHBOR, or DO NOT SLANDER. Stated positively, we are exhorted to protect the reputation of our neighbor, which is the opposite of SLANDER, or harming the reputation of our neighbor.

How is it possible to simultaneously slander and tell the truth about someone?

Why does the Catholic Catechism’s section against slander include a reference to the Vatican II decree on Religious Liberty?

How did the Catholic Church’s experience with fascism in World War II affect the section on slander?

What do Theodore Roosevelt and his daughter Alice say about slander and gossip?

Bible verses are quoted and referenced frequently in the Catholic Catechism, as well as in the papal decrees and encyclicals, as well as St Thomas Aquinas’ Catechism. You can purchase a Companion to the Catechism that conveniently reprints these verses. We will quote those verses we find interesting.

Read the Catholic Catechism on US Bishops website

Powerpoint Script with Book Links:
https://www.slideshare.net/BruceStrom1/decalogue-do-not-slander-catholic-catechism-24652503-and-st-thomas-aquinas

YouTube video for this blog: https://youtu.be/9RqsWvRZpWw

CATHOLIC CATECHISM

The Eight Commandment in the Catholic Catechism exhorts, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Many people shorten this commandment to, You shall not lie, and although lying is usually sinful, this is a shallow understanding of this commandment. The positive form of the commandment is we should guard the reputation of our neighbor, it is possible to slander someone while speaking the truth about them. Gossip can be harmful whether it is truthful or not.

We covered the first section 2464 in the Catholic Catechism in our first video, where we learned that slanders against our neighbor is also a sin against God. Slander undermines our covenant with God and our relationships with our neighbors.

Detail: CCC 2464 The eighth commandment forbids misrepresenting the truth in our relations with others. This moral prescription flows from the vocation of the holy people to bear witness to their God who is the truth and wills the truth. Offenses against the truth express by word or deed a refusal to commit oneself to moral uprightness: they are fundamental infidelities to God and, in this sense, they undermine the foundations of the covenant.

CATHOLIC CATECHISM: LIVING IN THE TRUTH

CCC 2465 The Old Testament attests that God is the source of all truth. His Word is truth. His Law is truth. His “faithfulness endures to all generations.” Since God is “true,” the members of his people are called to live in the truth.

CCC 2466 In Jesus Christ, the whole of God’s truth has been made manifest. “Full of grace and truth,” he came as the “light of the world,” he is the Truth. “Whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” The disciple of Jesus continues in his word so as to know “the truth [that] will make you free” and that sanctifies. To follow Jesus is to live in “the Spirit of truth,” whom the Father sends in his name and who leads “into all the truth.” To his disciples Jesus teaches the unconditional love of truth: “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes or No.'”

The next section, CCC 2467, references the Vatican II decree on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae.

Dignitatis Humanae decrees that “all men are bound to adhere to the truth, once it is known, and to order their whole lives in accord with the demands of the truth,”[1] and it is this searching for truth that is cited by the Catechism’s reflections on the commandment, Do Not Bear False Witness to Your Neighbor.

Which leads to the question, what does the right of freedom of religion have to do with bearing false witness, slanders, gossiping and lying? To answer this question, when we read Dignitatis Humanae, the first sentence reads: “A sense of the dignity of the human person has been impressing itself more and more deeply on the consciousness of contemporary man.” The Vatican II decrees repeatedly teach us that we should concern ourselves with the human dignity of all people no matter their wealth or class or race or gender.

In summary: Man has a moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth, so they can live a godly in accordance with the truth. The decrees of Vatican II respect the religious beliefs of both fellow Christians and Jews, as well as believers of other religions. Vatican II declares that the Catholic Church can learn from their separated brethren.

Detailed section:

CCC 2467 Man tends by nature toward the truth. He is obliged to honor and bear witness to it: “It is in accordance with their dignity that all men, because they are persons . . . are both impelled by their nature and bound by a moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth. They are also bound to adhere to the truth once they come to know it and direct their whole lives in accordance with the demands of truth.”

Our video on Dignitatis Humanae Topics reflects on:

Why Religious Freedom was such a controversial concept and decree.
How World War II profoundly influenced Vatican II Decrees, especially decree on Religious Freedom. Vatican II was unimaginable without World War II, it was very much influenced by the Church’s experience under fascism, and a response to the modern democratic post-colonial world.
The American bishop John Courtney Murray’s leadership on religious freedom, based on the American experience. In contrast, the European experience was colored by the anti-clericalism of the French Revolution and the communist persecution of Christians.
The anti-Semite Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and the SPPX schism. Like many monarchists, he opposed freedom of religion, particularly in majority Catholic countries.

Before Vatican II, the Catholic Church was deceived into being on the wrong side of history. Historically, based on her bad experiences during the French Revolution, which seized church properties and murdered priests, the church feared democracy and championed the monarchies. Many of the remaining monarchies were swept away after World War I, so the church was deceived into supporting many fascist regimes, which opposed the communism which martyred clerics, and often were anti-Semitic. Vatican II sought to embrace democracy and the freedom of religion characteristic of democracy at Vatican II.

Vatican II Decree on Freedom of Religion, Embracing Democracy, Rejecting Fascism
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/vatican-ii-decree-on-freedom-of-religion-embracing-democracy-rejecting-fascism/
Vatican II on Freedom of Religion, Dignitatis Humanae, and Pacem In Terris by Pope John XXIII
https://youtu.be/i_zGeTW9QMI

This section has no footnotes, which may mean that Cardinal Ratzinger or the other drafters of the Catechism, or the bishops chose to provide pastoral instruction on this point:
CCC 2468 Truth as uprightness in human action and speech is called truthfulness, sincerity, or candor. Truth or truthfulness is the virtue which consists in showing oneself true in deeds and truthful in words, and in guarding against duplicity, dissimulation, and hypocrisy.

The next section quotes St Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica. We reviewed these sections and found them incomprehensible.

Thomas Aquinas is quoted twice from:
CCC 2469 “Men could not live with one another if there were not mutual confidence that they were being truthful to one another.” The virtue of truth gives another his just due. Truthfulness keeps to the just mean between:

What ought to be expressed and,
What ought to be kept secret: it entails honesty and discretion.

In justice, “as a matter of honor, one man owes it to another to manifest the truth.”

However, the summarized Aquinas Catechism is much easier to read, and like the modern Catechism, is primarily a collection of Bible verses on DO NOT SLANDER. St Thomas Aquinas first discusses the courts, since the commandment forbids false witness, noting that lies should not be told by either the plaintiff or the witnesses, and that judges should judge fairly. Today he would also extend this commandment to prosecutors.

In ordinary conversation:

Detractors are hateful to God; we should guard the good reputation of our neighbor.
We should not willingly seek to listen to detractors.
The Lord hates gossipers who sow discord among their neighbors.
St Thomas Aquinas would not have approved of Alice Roosevelt, the gossipy society woman who was the rebellious eldest child of Theodore Roosevelt, who stitched this message on her throw pillow: “If you can’t say something good about someone, sit right here by me.”[2]
Alice was his eldest daughter of his first wife, Alice, who died in childbirth. Distraught and grieving, Theodore left her with aunts who raised her, he headed out west to his Montana ranch.
Flatterers bear false witness with words of honey.
Lying is listed last.

Why is lying forbidden?

Liars choose to be children of the devil because those who tell the truth are children of God.
Liars destroy their reputation with their lies.
Liars destroy their souls with their lies. The lie that wrongs our neighbor is a mortal sin. It is also a mortal sin for preachers, professors, and prelates to lie in a matter of faith. Sinning corrupts the soul of the sinner.

ASIDE: The two-generation saga of Jacob and Joseph revolves around deceit, and the recurring consequences of deceit in this family. Rebecca favored her son Jacob, and they plotted for Esau to sell him his birthright, and to further deceive his father into blessing Jacob rather than his eldest son, Esau. Jacob fled across the desert to his uncle Laban, Rebecca would never see her favorite son again.

ASIDE: Jacob was smitten by Rachel when he met her by the well; and agreed to labor for Laban for seven years for her hand in marriage. But on the night of their wedding feast, when Jacob was quite drunk, Laban switched his daughter Rachel, or gazelle, for his elder daughter Leah, or cow. Jacob had to work for Laban for another seven years for Rachel, though they were married immediately. Deceit breeds deception.

Why do people lie?

For personal advantage:
Out of humility. During confession, some people may confess sins they have not actually committed.
Because of shame, we would choose not to retract something we have said in good faith that we realize later is not true.
For desired results, we may lie for gain or to avoid harm.
“To benefit another, people sometimes lie, such as when they wish to free someone from death, danger, or some other loss.”
This did not apply to Schindler’s List, where Schindler’s repeated lies saved the lives of hundreds of Jews who labored in his work camp and factory.
Out of vanity, we might lie so others will think better of us.[3]

ASIDE: After much deceitful and complicating wrangling, after the fourteen years of laboring were done, Jacob and Laban agreed on a property split. But Rachel, resentful, deceived her father Laban by stealing his teraphim, or household idols, sitting on the chest containing them while claiming her woman time was upon her. After this, Rachel would not live long.

What is a mortal sin? One practical definition is that a mortal sin is a sin, if committed frequently, destroys in our heart our Love for God as well as our love for our neighbor. Mortal sins rob us of the capacity to love.

The Catechism defines mortal sin:
CCC 1855 Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns man away from God, who is the ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him.

Venial sin allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it.

Next, the Catechism bids:

CCC 2470 The disciple of Christ consents to “live in the truth,” that is, in the simplicity of a life in conformity with the Lord’s example, abiding in his truth. “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth.”

ASIDE: What happened in the next generation? Jacob was distraught over the early death of his adoring gazelle, Rachel, he favored her only two sons she bore him, Joseph and Benjamin. Joseph irritated his brothers with his arrogance, so they sold him to Egyptian slave traders. What to tell their father Jacob? They dipped his coat of many colors in animal blood, and lied to their father, telling him that Joseph was attacked by wild animals.

CATHOLIC CATECHISM: TO BEAR WITNESS TO THE TRUTH

In his life on earth, and when he appears before Pontius Pilate, Jesus lives in Truth.

CCC 2471 Before Pilate, Christ proclaims that he “has come into the world, to bear witness to the truth.” The Christian is not to “be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord.” In situations that require witness to the faith, the Christian must profess it without equivocation, after the example of St. Paul before his judges. We must keep “a clear conscience toward God and toward men.”

CCC 2472 The duty of Christians to take part in the life of the Church impels them to act as witnesses of the Gospel and of the obligations that flow from it. This witness is a transmission of the faith in words and deeds. Witness is an act of justice that establishes the truth or makes it known.

The next section is drawn from Ad Gentes, the Vatican II decree on Missionary Activity, which recognized that the colonial era was no more, and that the churches in the Third World wanted to be more independent.

“All Christians by the example of their lives and the witness of their word, wherever they live, have an obligation to manifest the new man which they have put on in Baptism and to reveal the power of the Holy Spirit by whom they were strengthened at Confirmation.”

CCC 2473 Martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith: it means bearing witness even unto death. The martyr bears witness to Christ who died and rose, to whom he is united by charity. He bears witness to the truth of the faith and of Christian doctrine. He endures death through an act of fortitude.
From Epistles of St Ignatius of Antioch:
“Let me become the food of the beasts, through whom it will be given me to reach God.”

Epistles of St Ignatius to the Romans and Polycarp
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/epistles-of-st-ignatius-to-the-romans-and-polycarp/
St Ignatius Epistles to the Ephesians, Magnesians, and Smyrnaeans
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/st-ignatius-epistles-to-the-ephesians-magnesians-and-smyrnaeans/
Epistles of St Ignatius of Antioch, Early Church Martyr
https://youtu.be/CM31T6J4bXo

CCC 2474 The Church has painstakingly collected the records of those who persevered to the end in witnessing to their faith. These are the acts of the Martyrs. They form the archives of truth written in letters of blood:
From Epistles of St Ignatius of Antioch:
“Neither the pleasures of the world nor the kingdoms of this age will be of any use to me. It is better for me to die [in order to unite myself] to Christ Jesus than to reign over the ends of the earth. I seek him who died for us; I desire him who rose for us. My birth is approaching.”

From the martyrdom of Polycarp:
CCC 2474 continued: “I bless you for having judged me worthy from this day and this hour to be counted among your martyrs…. You have kept your promise, God of faithfulness and truth. For this reason and for everything, I praise you, I bless you, I glorify you through the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son. Through him, who is with you and the Holy Spirit, may glory be given to you, now and in the ages to come. Amen”

YouTube

CATHOLIC CATECHISM: OFFENSES AGAINST THE TRUTH

The Catechism now discusses the positive form of the commandment against bearing false witness: How we should guard the reputation of our neighbor.

CCC 2475 Christ’s disciples have “put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” By “putting away falsehood,” they are to “put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander.”

CCC 2476 False witness and perjury. When it is made publicly, a statement contrary to the truth takes on a particular gravity. In court it becomes false witness. When it is under oath, it is perjury. Acts such as these contribute to condemnation of the innocent, exoneration of the guilty, or the increased punishment of the accused. They gravely compromise the exercise of justice and the fairness of judicial decisions.

The Catechism now discusses how we should guard the reputation of our neighbor.

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.

This is similar to the teachings in the Aquinas Catechism, though in a different order.

We have an interesting verse from Sirach 21:3
A whisperer defiles his own soul
and is hated in his neighborhood.[4]

CCC 2478 To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor’s thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way:

This section is from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola:
Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another’s statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. and if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved.

If we think the best of our neighbor, even if we are mistaken, we bring out the best in him. If we think the worst of our neighbor, we bring out the worst in him, and if we are mistaken, we risk slandering him.

History of the Jesuits From Ignatius Loyola Through Pope Francis, the First Jesuit Pope
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/history-of-the-jesuits/
https://youtu.be/16HRnyenOVc

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.

These two sections teach us that we should guard our neighbor’s reputations, we are guilty if we do not object when hear someone slandering our neighbor, and we are guilty if we do not defend them, even sometimes if what is said about them is true.

The following verses describe something that can lead to slander. The New Testament adopts the commandments from the Old Testament, but it does add one law in Matthew, and interestingly, this is regarding judicial process:

“If your brother sins against you:

Go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen,
Take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them,
Tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”[5]

Some churches use this verse as justification for the abhorrent practice of shunning, where they are too quick to ostracize a member they have judged to fall short of community standards. As St Augustine teaches us, we should always interpret Scripture to increase in us our two-fold Love of God and neighbor, and shunning does not show love for our neighbor.

St Augustine: On Christian Teaching, aka On Christian Doctrine, How To Read Scripture
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/st-augustine-on-christian-teaching-how-to-read-scripture/
https://youtu.be/uQCnAJMPoos

What does this verse have to do with slander? Simply put, before you criticize someone publicly for some wrong you think they may have done, first go have lunch with them to make sure you are not mistaken and slander their reputation needlessly. This happened to me recently, I was serving as an officer of my condominium and was constantly butting heads with a charismatic board member. For over a year I kept asking him to go to lunch so we get to know each other better, and it became a running joke, I would ask, and he would once again say no.

I had halted the foreclosure on a destitute owner with advanced dementia, and this had angered him, and he talked some other officers into censuring me over this action and other slanderous or overblown actions, asking me to resign, asking the attorney to send a letter to the entire community to destroy my reputation!

Long story short, I spent several thousand dollars on my own rebuttal letter, with big red letters on the envelope: I was censured for halting the foreclosure on an owner with advanced dementia, so a court appointed guardian could place him in a facility and sell his unit, reimbursing us our maintenance fees.

How I Halted a Foreclosure on a Destitute Owner with Advanced Dementia! We Discuss Dementia
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/how-i-halted-foreclosure-on-owner-with-advanced-dementia-reflecting-on-dementia/
https://youtu.be/_uAJPCCRNQ8

Surely it was proper for me to defend my own reputation, but if in doing so I criticize my persecutor by name, would I be trading slander for slander? The Golden Sayings of Brother Giles would agree with many monastics and stoics in saying that this would be the case. We should temper this advice by noting this was during the time of emperors and monarchs, were there were no elections in which you could debate the morality of our public officials.

Who Was the Author of the Prayer of St Francis? Sayings of Brother Giles
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/who-was-the-author-of-the-prayer-of-st-francis-sayings-of-brother-giles/
https://youtu.be/TJh72jknklE

Martin Luther, who famously said some very un-Christian things about the pope, argues in the Large Catechism that it is proper to criticize a public figure in public where it would not be proper for ordinary citizens. But is a condominium officer a public official? Another officer had cautioned that we should not get too personal, as we were all neighbors who had live together for many more years. Besides, the condominium elections were over six months distant.

Martin Luther, Do Not Slander, Lutheran Catechisms
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/luther-on-do-not-bear-false-witness-against-your-neighbor/
https://youtu.be/jM2FrvyKsbk

But in the end, I decided to take the advice of Theodore Roosevelt, who once commented that whenever possible, especially in print, even for public officials, you should strive to praise by name, but you should strive to criticize anonymously. I just do not enjoy publicly criticizing anyone, even if you can argue that they deserve it. After all, as St Paul says in Romans, “None is righteous, no, not one.”[6]

When he was a young author, Roosevelt submitted a magazine article that accused the former President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, of treason, equating him to Benedict Arnold, which resulted in numerous angry exchanges. Years later, Roosevelt remembered, “I answered with an acerbity which, being a young man, struck me as clever. It does not strike me as in the least so now.”[7]

Although Jefferson Davis was indeed guilty of treason, Roosevelt could have been more diplomatic, since Davis now an old man struggling to make a living.

In my mailing I realized that many ordinary residents really did not want to hear about all this conflict and drama, and my enemy on the board and our President both had performed admirably in drafting a realistic budget that established reserves and funded needed capital expenditures, so I praised them both publicly by name.

But I accused my enemy on the board anonymously as a “charismatic board member,” which gave him room to call a truce. He told me that his mother had suffered from Alzheimer’s, that played a part in his remorse.

My main motive was to spread the news about Alzheimer’s, a topic many people do not like talking about. If you are over sixty, you do not like people reminding you that there is a seven percent chance you may go mad before you die.

In the next section, malicious flattery is condemned, and the catechism explores when this is a mortal sin or a venial sin.

CCC 2480 Every word or attitude is forbidden which by flattery, adulation, or complaisance encourages and confirms another in malicious acts and perverse conduct. Adulation is a grave fault if it makes one an accomplice in another’s vices or grave sins. Neither the desire to be of service nor friendship justifies duplicitous speech. Adulation is a venial sin when it only seeks to be agreeable, to avoid evil, to meet a need, or to obtain legitimate advantages.

In the next section, malicious flattery is condemned, and the catechism explores when this is a mortal sin or a venial sin.

Also, boasting and bragging, and malicious ironies and caricatures, can be forms of slander.

CCC 2481 Boasting or bragging is an offense against truth. So is irony aimed at disparaging someone by maliciously caricaturing some aspect of his behavior.

From St. Augustine, De Mendacio, On Lying:
CCC 2482 “A lie consists in speaking a falsehood with the intention of deceiving.” The Lord denounces lying as the work of the devil: “You are of your father the devil,” “there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

In his book On Lying, St Augustine examines those situations where lying can be charitable, where lying is truly beneficial rather than harmful to our neighbor, but he warns that this is a spiritually dangerous thing.

We discuss the lies that Schindler told the Nazis to save as many of his Jews working in his camp as possible. St Augustine discusses how the Hebrew midwives lied to Pharaoh to save the lives of the Hebrew infants, and the lies told in the stories of Sarah and Abraham, and especially the constant deceit in the Jacob-Joseph saga spanning two generations. What about the lies of Odysseus in Homer?

St Augustine: On Lying
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/st-augustine-on-lying/
https://youtu.be/PuY5KAyeDXc

The remainder of the paragraphs in this section have no footnotes, it may be for pastoral direction, which may mean these are proposed answers to questions that priests are often asked during Confession.

CCC 2483 Lying is the most direct offense against the truth. To lie is to speak or act against the truth in order to lead into error someone who has the right to know the truth. By injuring man’s relation to truth and to his neighbor, a lie offends against the fundamental relation of man and of his word to the Lord.

CCC 2484 The gravity of a lie is measured against the nature of the truth it deforms, the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered by its victims. If a lie in itself only constitutes a venial sin, it becomes mortal when it does grave injury to the virtues of justice and charity.

CCC 2485 By its very nature, lying is to be condemned. It is a profanation of speech, whereas the purpose of speech is to communicate known truth to others. the deliberate intention of leading a neighbor into error by saying things contrary to the truth constitutes a failure in justice and charity. The culpability is greater when the intention of deceiving entails the risk of deadly consequences for those who are led astray.

CCC 2486 Since it violates the virtue of truthfulness, a lie does real violence to another. It affects his ability to know, which is a condition of every judgment and decision. It contains the seed of discord and all consequent evils. Lying is destructive of society; it undermines trust among men and tears apart the fabric of social relationships.

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.

In other words, you have to pay them back, you have to make them whole.

RESPECT FOR THE TRUTH

For this next section, Respect for the Truth, there are only two footnotes, which means it likewise may be for pastoral direction in confessions.

CCC 2488 The right to the communication of the truth is not unconditional. Everyone must conform his life to the Gospel precept of fraternal love. This requires us in concrete situations to judge whether or not it is appropriate to reveal the truth to someone who asks for it.

This is another example when speaking the truth can be slanderous. This is obviously referring to gossiping, which can be a mortal sin if it is sufficiently malicious.

CCC 2489 Charity and respect for the truth should dictate the response to every request for information or communication. The good and safety of others, respect for privacy, and the common good are sufficient reasons for being silent about what ought not be known or for making use of a discreet language. The duty to avoid scandal often commands strict discretion. No one is bound to reveal the truth to someone who does not have the right to know it.

Interesting verse from Sirach:
Whoever betrays secrets destroys confidence,
and he will never find a congenial friend.[8]

From Proverbs:
Argue your case with your neighbor himself,
and do not disclose another’s secret;
lest he who hears you bring shame upon you,
and your ill repute have no end.[9]

Which story comes to mind here? When Joseph learned that his betrothed partner Mary was pregnant, he decided to put her away quietly so he would not unduly damage her reputation. Then the angel appeared to him in a dream to reveal that Mary was the most blessed Theotokos, mother of God.

The next section is written for priests hearing confessions.

CCC 2490 The secret of the sacrament of reconciliation is sacred and cannot be violated under any pretext. “The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore, it is a crime for a confessor in any way to betray a penitent by word or in any other manner or for any reason.”

CCC 2491 Professional secrets – for example, those of political office holders, soldiers, physicians, and lawyers – or confidential information given under the seal of secrecy must be kept, save in exceptional cases where keeping the secret is bound to cause very grave harm to the one who confided it, to the one who received it or to a third party, and where the very grave harm can be avoided only by divulging the truth. Even if not confided under the seal of secrecy, private information prejudicial to another is not to be divulged without a grave and proportionate reason.

CCC 2492 Everyone should observe an appropriate reserve concerning persons’ private lives. Those in charge of communications should maintain a fair balance between the requirements of the common good and respect for individual rights. Interference by the media in the private lives of persons engaged in political or public activity is to be condemned to the extent that it infringes upon their privacy and freedom.

VATICAN II: USE OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA

Mostly of the footnotes in this section refer to the Vatican II Decree on the Media of Social Communication or Inter Mirifica. This was not a controversial decree, but it was rewritten and refined over several sessions.

Dr Wikipedia summarizes the themes of this decree as:

The need for pastoral directive.
The responsibility of the Church to monitor the use of social communications and media and ensure the spiritual well-being of the Church community at large.
The responsibility of the individual to ensure their own well-being and to ensure they are not causing themselves “spiritual harm”.
The responsibility of the media.[10]

The Vatican Church Fathers were not totally satisfied with this decree, numerous popes since have issued updates to this decree, including two encyclicals by Pope Francis on the proper use of social media on the internet, where now everyone can be a producer of media.

Pope Francis Mentions Abortion in Gaudete et Exsultate, With a Prayer From Pope Benedict
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/pope-francis-mentions-abortion-in-gaudete-et-exsultate-with-a-prayer-from-pope-benedict/
https://youtu.be/jF-fsMvYsak

We are reminded by our Pope Francis that we do not post to the void, that those reading our posts, those we attack, or encourage, in our posts are real live human beings with sensitive souls, that we should ask ourselves before posting comments: Will this discussion increase our two-fold Love of God and neighbor?

We should also remind ourselves that we cannot troll our way into heaven.

Pope Francis Encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, On Fraternity and Social Friendship
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/pope-francis-encyclical-fratelli-tutti-on-fraternity-and-social-friendship/
https://youtu.be/WmT12-PFrt8

CCC 2493 Within modern society the communications media play a major role in information, cultural promotion, and formation. This role is increasing, as a result of technological progress, the extent and diversity of the news transmitted, and the influence exercised on public opinion.

CCC 2494 The information provided by the media is at the service of the common good. Society has a right to information based on truth, freedom, justice, and solidarity:

The proper exercise of this right demands that the content of the communication be true and – within the limits set by justice and charity – complete. Further, it should be communicated honestly and properly. This means that in the gathering and in the publication of news, the moral law and the legitimate rights and dignity of man should be upheld.

CCC 2495 “It is necessary that all members of society meet the demands of justice and charity in this domain. They should help, through the means of social communication, in the formation and diffusion of sound public opinion.” Solidarity is a consequence of genuine and right communication and the free circulation of ideas that further knowledge and respect for others.

CCC 2496 The means of social communication (especially the mass media) can give rise to a certain passivity among users, making them less than vigilant consumers of what is said or shown. Users should practice moderation and discipline in their approach to the mass media. They will want to form enlightened and correct consciences the more easily to resist unwholesome influences.

CCC 2497 By the very nature of their profession, journalists have an obligation to serve the truth and not offend against charity in disseminating information. They should strive to respect, with equal care, the nature of the facts and the limits of critical judgment concerning individuals. They should not stoop to defamation.

This section now applies to everyone, since when we post to Facebook and Twitter, we are all journalists. Journalists must be truthful. Although the First Amendment protects defamation against public officials, the Catechism condemns defamation. We cannot wish truth into that which we want to be true. Repeatedly repeating lies does not make them true. Alternate truth is not truthful, it is a lie disguised as truth, it is gaslighting.

CCC 2498 “Civil authorities have particular responsibilities in this field because of the common good…. It is for the civil authority … to defend and safeguard a true and just freedom of information.” By promulgating laws and overseeing their application, public authorities should ensure that “public morality and social progress are not gravely endangered” through misuse of the media. Civil authorities should punish any violation of the rights of individuals to their reputation and privacy. They should give timely and reliable reports concerning the general good or respond to the well-founded concerns of the people. Nothing can justify recourse to disinformation for manipulating public opinion through the media. Interventions by public authority should avoid injuring the freedom of individuals or groups.

CCC 2499 Moral judgment must condemn the plague of totalitarian states which systematically falsify the truth, exercise political control of opinion through the media, manipulate defendants and witnesses at public trials, and imagine that they secure their tyranny by strangling and repressing everything they consider “thought crimes.”

This section reminds us that Vatican II was unthinkable without the experience of the Catholic Church living under the various fascist and Nazi regimes before and during World War II. We see today various conservative groups trying to control the media and education to repress public discussion of history and political issues.

TRUTH, BEAUTY, AND SACRED ART

Why was this section on Truth, Beauty, and Sacred Art dropped into the discussion about DO NOT SLANDER? The Church Fathers wanted to place it somewhere, so this is it’s home. Most likely, the reasoning is that sacred art should seek to enhance the reputation of the Church as a whole. The last few paragraphs provide additional reasons.

Many of the footnotes in this section refer to the Deutero-canonical or apocryphal book, Wisdom of Solomon, which was also a favorite book of St Augustine. We plan to do a video on this book in 2024 or sooner.

CCC 2500 The practice of goodness is accompanied by spontaneous spiritual joy and moral beauty. Likewise, truth carries with it the joy and splendor of spiritual beauty. Truth is beautiful in itself. Truth in words, the rational expression of the knowledge of created and uncreated reality, is necessary to man, who is endowed with intellect. But truth can also find other complementary forms of human expression, above all when it is a matter of evoking what is beyond words: the depths of the human heart, the exaltations of the soul, the mystery of God. Even before revealing himself to man in words of truth, God reveals himself to him through the universal language of creation, the work of his Word, of his wisdom: the order and harmony of the cosmos – which both the child and the scientist discover – “from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator,” “for the author of beauty created them.”

[Wisdom] is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore, nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. For [wisdom] is more beautiful than the sun and excels every constellation of the stars. Compared with the light she is found to be superior, for it is succeeded by the night, but against wisdom evil does not prevail. I became enamored of her beauty.

CCC 2501 Created “in the image of God,” man also expresses the truth of his relationship with God the Creator by the beauty of his artistic works. Indeed, art is a distinctively human form of expression; beyond the search for the necessities of life which is common to all living creatures, art is a freely given superabundance of the human being’s inner riches. Arising from talent given by the Creator and from man’s own effort, art is a form of practical wisdom, uniting knowledge and skill, to give form to the truth of reality in a language accessible to sight or hearing. To the extent that it is inspired by truth and love of beings, art bears a certain likeness to God’s activity in what he has created. Like any other human activity, art is not an absolute end in itself; but is ordered to and ennobled by the ultimate end of man.

The Source for this section is the 1950 discourse by Pope Pius XII on liturgical music, Musicae sacrae disciplina.

CCC 2502 Sacred art is true and beautiful when its form corresponds to its particular vocation: evoking and glorifying, in faith and adoration, the transcendent mystery of God – the surpassing invisible beauty of truth and love visible in Christ, who “reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature,” in whom “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” This spiritual beauty of God is reflected in the most holy Virgin Mother of God, the angels, and saints. Genuine sacred art draws man to adoration, to prayer, and to the love of God, Creator and Savior, the Holy One and Sanctifier.

CCC 2503 For this reason bishops, personally or through delegates, should see to the promotion of sacred art, old and new, in all its forms and, with the same religious care, remove from the liturgy and from places of worship everything which is not in conformity with the truth of faith and the authentic beauty of sacred art.

This last section is excerpted from Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, one of the constitutions of Vatican II.[11] Bishops approve, or decide, which art may be displayed in the churches in his diocese, priests and laymen cannot decide on their own which art they wish to display, or which songs they wish to sing in the liturgy. How strictly this is enforced depends on the bishop.

Other quotes from this decree, Sacrosanctum Concilium: “The Church has not adopted any particular style of art as her own.” “The Church has always claimed the right to pass judgment on the arts, deciding which of the works of artists are in accordance with faith, piety, and the laws religiously handed down, and are to be considered suitable for sacred use.”[12]

SUMMARIZING DO NOT SLANDER COMMANDMENT

CCC 2504 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”” (Ex 20:16). Christ’s disciples have “put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:24)

CCC 2505 Truth or truthfulness is the virtue which consists in showing oneself true in deeds and truthful in words, and guarding against duplicity, dissimulation, and hypocrisy.

CCC 2506 The Christian is not to “be ashamed of testifying to our Lord.” (2 Tim 1:8) in deed and word. Martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith.

CCC 2507 Respect for the reputation and honor of persons forbids all detraction and calumny in word or attitude.

CCC 2508 Lying consists in saying what is false with the intention of deceiving the neighbor who has the right to the truth.

CCC 2509 An offense committed against the truth requires reparation.

CCC 2510 The golden rule helps one discern, in concrete situations, whether or not it would be appropriate to reveal the truth to someone who asks for it.

CCC 2511 “The sacramental seal is inviolable.” (CIC, can. 983 # 1) Professional secrets must be kept. Confidences prejudicial to another are not to be divulged.

CCC 2512 Society has a right to information based on truth, freedom, and justice. One should practice moderation and discipline in the use of social communications media.

CCC 2513 The fine arts, but above all sacred art, “of their nature are directed toward expressing in some way the infinite beauty of God in works made by human hands. Their dedication to the increase of God’s praise and of his glory is more complete, the more exclusively they are devoted to turning men’s minds devoutly toward God.” (Sacrosanctum Concilium 122).[13]

Reflections on Morality, Philosophy, and History

Philosohy, History, and Morality in Judeo-Christian Tradition

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