Catechism of the Catholic Church
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404 How did the sin of Adam become the sin of all his descendants? The whole human race is in Adam "as one body of one man". 293 By this "unity of the human race" all men are implicated in Adam's sin, as all are implicated in Christ's justice. Still, the transmission of original sin is a mystery that we cannot fully understand. But we do know by Revelation that Adam had received original holiness and justice not for himself alone, but for all human nature. By yielding to the tempter, Adam and Eve committed a personal sin, but this sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in a fallen state. 294 It is a sin which will be transmitted by propagation to all mankind, that is, by the transmission of a human nature deprived of original holiness and justice. And that is why original sin is called "sin" only in an analogical sense: it is a sin "contracted" and not "committed" - a state and not an act.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH |
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SECTION TWO: THE PROFESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH |
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CHAPTER ONE: I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER |
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ARTICLE 1: "I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH" |
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Paragraph 7. The Fall |
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III. ORIGINAL SIN |
Notes for the above paragraph:
293 St. Thomas Aquinas, De malo 4, I.294 Cf. Council of Trent: DS 1511-1512
English Translation of the Cathechism of the Catholic Church for the United States of America © 1997, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.