The Catechism of the Summa - LIV. OF MODESTY: OF HUMILITY AND OF ITS OPPOSITE SIN PRIDE; OF THE SIN OF ADAM AND EVE; OF SECULARISM (C)

(C)

What is the sin opposed to humility?

It is pride (CLXII.).

What is pride?

It is that special and in some sort general sin which, in despisal of God and of the order He has established in His work, strives to dominate all and to make one place oneself before all others by esteeming oneself superior to all (CLXII. 1, 2).

Why is it said that pride is a special and in some sort a general sin also?

Because this esteeming of oneself and one's worth in despisal of God and the rules established by Him, leads man to commit all manner of sins (ibid.).

Is this a grave sin?

It is the gravest of all sins by reason of the contempt of God which it directly implies; and owing to this it aggravates the gravity of all other sins no matter how grave these may be in themselves (CLXII. 6).

Is pride the first of all sins?

Yes; for there can be no grave sin that does not presuppose the sin of pride, although such sin in itself, or by reason of the motive which makes it a specific sin, is not itself a sin of pride; for it is pride, by reason of the contempt it implies for God, that completes as it were the essence of other sins in so far as they make man turn away from God (CLXII. 7).

Is pride a capital sin?

Yes, and it is even more than this, for it is the head and the king as it were of every sin and vice (CLXII. 8).

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