What are the seven deadly sins? The list from CCC 1866
The Catholic Church names seven capital sins — popularly called the "seven deadly sins." Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) 1866 lists them, in this order: pride, avarice (greed), envy, wrath (anger), lust, gluttony, and sloth (also called acedia). This is the fixed, sevenfold form the Church teaches, so it is worth memorizing exactly.
The list did not fall from the sky. CCC 1866 notes that Christian experience distinguished these sins "following St. John Cassian and St. Gregory the Great" — a fourth-to-sixth-century monastic tradition the Church later received and codified. Each name points to a whole family of related sins: "avarice" covers not only hoarding money but every disordered grasping after possessions, and "gluttony" covers disordered indulgence in food or drink. Naming them clearly is the first step to recognizing them honestly in an examination of conscience.
Why "capital"? And why they aren't automatically "mortal"
Why "capital" and not simply "deadly"? The word capital comes from the Latin caput, "head." These are head sins — the sources from which other sins spring. CCC 1866 puts it plainly: they are "called 'capital' because they engender other sins, other vices." CCC 1865 explains the mechanism: "Sin creates a proclivity to sin; it engenders vice by repetition of the same acts." One act of pride makes the next easier, until a habit — a vice — forms.
Here is a distinction that spares many people needless fear: capital is not the same as mortal. A capital sin is a root category; whether a particular act is a mortal sin depends on three conditions given in CCC 1857 — grave matter "committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent." Fall short on any one, and the sin is venial, not mortal. CCC 1855 teaches that mortal sin "destroys charity in the heart of man," while "venial sin allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it." The seven are dangerous roots — but not automatic soul-killers.
The seven capital sins and their opposing virtues
CCC 1866 says vices "can be classified according to the virtues they oppose." Catholic tradition has long drawn out that principle by pairing each capital sin with a contrary virtue that heals it. This sevenfold pairing is a teaching tradition rather than a defined dogma, but it is a time-tested map for the spiritual life:
- Pride → humility
- Avarice / greed → generosity (liberality)
- Envy → kindness and brotherly love
- Wrath / anger → patience and meekness
- Lust → chastity
- Gluttony → temperance (abstinence)
- Sloth / acedia → diligence and zeal for God
Scripture echoes the pattern. St. Paul lists the "works of the flesh" — including "wraths... envies... drunkenness" (Galatians 5:19-21, Douay-Rheims) — and against them sets "the fruit of the Spirit... charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity" (Galatians 5:22-23). You do not defeat a vice by white-knuckling; you starve it by practicing its opposite.
A closer look at each of the seven
Pride is the disordered love of one's own excellence — the root sin that sets self above God and neighbor. Avarice (greed) is an inordinate attachment to possessions and money. Envy, as tradition describes it, is sorrow at another's good, as if his blessing were your loss. Wrath is disordered anger — not the just anger at real evil, but the appetite for revenge that consumes the heart. Lust is disordered desire for sexual pleasure, sought apart from its God-given meaning in self-giving love. Gluttony is disordered indulgence in food or drink, letting appetite rule. Sloth, or acedia, is the subtlest: a spiritual sluggishness or sadness toward the things of God that can even refuse the joy He offers.
A pastoral word on sloth and wrath: spiritual acedia is not the same as clinical depression, and disordered anger is not the same as an anxiety disorder. Persistent sadness, fear, or rage can be medical conditions that deserve real, professional care. Prayer and the sacraments — including a Catholic prayer for anxiety, or devotion to St. Dymphna, honored in Catholic tradition as a patroness of those who suffer mental and emotional distress — walk alongside that care. They never replace it.
The way out: Confession and the mercy of God
No one white-knuckles his way free of the capital sins. The way out runs through God's mercy. CCC 1440 teaches that "sin is before all else an offense against God, a rupture of communion with him" — and the Sacrament of Penance is where that communion is restored. The first movement is contrition: CCC 1451, quoting the Council of Trent, defines it as "sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again." Then comes honest confession of one's sins, and the priest's absolution.
The fruit is real. CCC 1496 lists the effects of Penance: "reconciliation with God by which the penitent recovers grace," reconciliation with the Church, "remission of the eternal punishment incurred by mortal sins," "peace and serenity of conscience," and "an increase of spiritual strength for the Christian battle." If it has been years, do not let shame keep you away — here is how to go to Confession after years away. The priest has heard it all before, and Christ is waiting.
Fighting the capital sins day by day
Grace works through habits. To starve a capital sin, name it, confess it, and practice its opposite — daily. A few concrete steps:
- Make a nightly examination of conscience. Two minutes reviewing the day trains you to catch a vice while it is still small. Our examination of conscience walks you through it.
- Practice the contrary virtue on purpose. Fight pride with a hidden act of service; fight greed with deliberate generosity.
- Anchor the day in prayer. A single decade of the Rosary or a fixed morning offering builds the diligence that starves sloth.
- Do not fight alone. The capital sins thrive in isolation; a brotherhood and a regular confessor cut them off from their oxygen.
One caution: if you are tormented by the fear that everything is a mortal sin, that may be scrupulosity/">scrupulosity — a wound that needs gentleness and a trusted confessor, not more self-accusation. Temptation itself is not sin; sin requires consent. The goal is not a perfect record but a heart turned, daily, back toward God.