📖Overview

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, The doctrine of original sin is, as it were, the "reverse side" of the Good News that Jesus is the Savior of all humanity. The Church's teaching clarifies that the world was not created in a state of corruption but was originally good, and that sin entered the world through a historical event at the beginning of human history. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, tempted by the devil, freely disobeyed God's command. This first sin was a sin of disobedience rooted in pride: the desire to "be like God" apart from God. By this sin, our first parents lost the grace of original holiness and justice, not only for themselves but for all of humanity. Original sin is transmitted to every human being not by imitation but by propagation, so that it is a sin "contracted" and not "committed." It is a deprivation of original holiness and justice, but human nature has not been totally corrupted; it is wounded in its natural powers and subject to ignorance, suffering, death, and the inclination to sin (concupiscence). The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a singular grace preserving her from original sin. Baptism erases original sin and turns a person back toward God, though the consequences of original sin remain.

💡Key Points