MyCatholicSource.com - 'Quick Help' Page: Original Sin

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As defined...

"SIN, ORIGINAL. The primary and essential element of original sin is the privation of sanctifying grace from, the lack of supernatural life in, the soul of every human creature born into the world since the Fall (excluding Jesus & the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary); it is not an actual sin but a state of sin in which each individual is involved by virtue of the solidarity of the human race: the will of all humankind rebelled in Adam (the first Man), the head, fountain and representative of the race, when he rejected God's gift of a supernatural life by disobedience (the Fall). His sin was the sin of human nature (Rom. v. 12-21) and inheres as habitual sin in all who share in that nature by bodily generation. The effects of original sin are, firstly, its own essence, the loss of sanctifying grace; then, the loss of integrity, resulting in concupiscence, i.e., a general propensity towards an uncontrolled love of oneself and of creatures; and the loss of immortality and impassibility. It must be noted that the Church repudiates and abhors the doctrine that concupiscence is itself original sin or that man is wicked by the very condition of his nature as such or that original sin is an essential corruption of the soul. Original sin is entirely remitted, not simply covered up by external imputation of the righteousness of Christ, by Baptism, but concupiscence, the tendency to sin, and the physical disabilities of death and suffering remain." (Catholic Dictionary)

Note that...

"Original sin incurs everlasting punishment, not on account of its gravity, but by reason of the condition of the subject, viz. a human being deprived of grace, without which there is no remission of sin." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

As stated in the Catechism of St. John Neumann...

Q. Why must all men die?

A. In punishment of original sin.

As stated in the Baltimore Catechism...

Q. What are the chief punishments of Adam that all persons inherit due to original sin?

A. The chief punishments of Adam which we inherit through original sin are: death, suffering, ignorance, and a strong inclination to sin.

Note that suffering & death entered the world due Original Sin and that Jesus came to save us due to this sin of disobedience on the part of our first parents (Adam & Eve).

To have Original Sin remitted (or removed/erased), baptism is necessary.

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