Scandal is the Sin of Leading Others to Sin

Below is Plinthos' response to the declaration Fiducua supplicans.

The promulgation of Fiducia supplicans is a sin of scandal, sacrilegious scandal, of the gravest sort. Fiducia supplicans is scandal given to the whole world by the highest authority of God on the earth, The Holy See.

The Basic Catechism of Christian Doctrine (327) says that the sin of Sodom is one of the four sins crying to heaven for vengeance, along with deliberate murder, oppression of the poor and defrauding laborers of their wages. To bless, approve of, or in any way promote, those sins, or any other sins, is to be guilty of them oneself, because, as is said in the Basic Catechism of Christian Doctrine (328), "We are answerable for the sins of others whenever we cause them, or share in them, through our own fault."

We may either cause or share in the guilt of another's sin in nine ways:

1. By counsel
2. By command
3. By consent
4. By provocation
5. By praise or flattery
6. By concealment
7. By being a partner in sin
8. By silence
9. By defending the ill done 

Basic Catechism of Christian Doctrine (329)  

Fiducia supplicans rightly cautions against any possible scandal in the matter of blessing of couples in irregular situation. (cf. #30, 31) Ministers of God should in no way give the appearance of approving or promoting sin of any kind, especially sins which cry to heaven for divine retribution. To bless as a couple, a couple which is obstinately in a manifest romantic relationship with each other, a relationship which is also manifestly and irredeemably objectionable (e.g. man with man) can't but be a source of grave scandal to the couple and to society.

However, Fiducia supplicans, by its very publication, makes the Holy See complicit in all of the sins of all of the couples of the world which are obstinately in manifest sinful relationships, because, by claiming that those relationships may be blessed, the decree gives them the Church's stamp of approval. In other words, with Fiducia supplicans, by granting priests permission to bless couples in publicly sinful relationships, the Holy See is saying that the Church recognizes and approves sexual relationships; relationships which in fact do not and cannot have the Church's official recognition, because they are against God's express will. Crazy. It is as if the Church were divided against Herself, as if the Church were saying, we (priests) can bless what God cannot bless. What a mockery of every form of religious integrity!

With this loathsome decree of Fiducia supplicans, by giving its blessing to irregular couples, by calling those partnerships blessable, the Prefect of the Dicastery, and the Holy Father Himself by extension, causes and shares in the guilt of the sins of others (the blessing ministers and the couples) committing innumerable grave sins of sacrilegious scandal; 1) by counsel, recommending the blessings; 2) by command, issuing the decree; 3) by consent, agreeing to the partnerships; 4) by praise and flattery, giving the couple the highest religious recognition; 5) by being a partner in sin, sharing in the scandalous action of all of the priests' "blessing" of such unions; 6) by silence, neglecting to openly condemn the public fact of these grave immoral institutions of obstinate and manifest immoral unions; 7) by defending the ill done, attempting to place it all under the guise of something legitimate; and 8) doing it all in the name of God, which makes it sacrilegious, and of the highest order, because it is apparently done by the Visible Head of the Church, Pope Francis Himself, the Vicar of Christ, Who is God!

Here is the section of The Catechism of the Catholic Church on the sin of scandal, which it treats under the fifth commandment of God, under the title, "Respect for the Dignity of Persons," because to cause someone to sin is the gravest form of disrespect.

2326 Scandal is a grave offense when by deed or omission it deliberately leads others to sin.

II. Respect for the Dignity of Persons

         Respect for the souls of others: scandal

2284 Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. the person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor's tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.

2285 Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." (Mt. 18:6; Cf. 1 Cor 8:10-13) Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep's clothing.(Cf. Mt 7:15)

2286 Scandal can be provoked by laws or institutions, by fashion or opinion.

Therefore, they are guilty of scandal who establish laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice, or to "social conditions that, intentionally or not, make Christian conduct and obedience to the Commandments difficult and practically impossible." (Pius XII, Discourse, June 1, 1941) This is also true of business leaders who make rules encouraging fraud, teachers who provoke their children to anger, (Cr. Eph 6:4; Col. 3:21) or manipulators of public opinion who turn it away from moral values.

2287 Anyone who uses the power at his disposal in such a way that it leads others to do wrong becomes guilty of scandal and responsible for the evil that he has directly or indirectly encouraged. "Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come!" (Lk 17:1)

Sin is only damnable, never blessable. No priest can bless what God Himself condemns! And, therefore, no priest (even if he be the Pope Himself!) can in any way authorize the blessing of sin.

Scandal of scandals!

May heaven avenge the grand scandal of Fiducia supplicans!

May heaven avenge this scandal of scandals, this travesty of Papal authority!

And, my the good and blessed Lord Jesus, sweet and gentle Jesus, Who today, on this Holy Epiphany, appeared to us, have, in the end, mercy on us all!

Oppose Gaydom

If You Consent to Someone Else's Sin, You are Sinning