62 SIN 



5. Cooperation in Injustice. — Man, as a so- 

 cial being placed in the midst of his fellowmen, 

 may become an occasion of, or accessory to, the 

 sins of others. 21 The distinction between pec- 

 cata propria and peccata aliena is popular rather 

 than scientific, for in the last analysis every sin is 

 a peccatum proprium, inasmuch as it is caused by 

 the ego of the sinner. But a man may share 

 the guilt of another's sin by becoming accessory 

 to it, i. e., by lending formal cooperation. This 

 he may do negatively, by failing to prevent the 

 other's sin, or by concealing or omitting to punish 

 it if he is in duty bound to do so; or positively, by 

 directly or indirectly seducing others, participat- 

 ing in, or at least consenting to, their evil actions, 

 or glossing them over. 



The different ways in which one may become accessory 

 to the sins of others have been brought into hexameters as 

 follows : 



Iussio, consilium, consensus, palpo, recursus, 

 Participans, mutus, non obstans, non manifestans; 



or: 



Qui suadet, iubet, assentit, stimulat, mala laudat, 

 Qui silet, indulget, iuvat et defendere tentat. 



As we know from the Catechism, a man may become 

 accessory to the sins of others: 



Serm., 98, n. 5-7 (XXXVIII, 593); 22; 2 John 10-11; Apoc. XVIII, 4. 



Serm., 128, n. 14 (P. L., XXXVIII, —St. Augustine, De Morib. Eccl., 



720). — St. Gregory the Great, Mo- II, c. 17, n. 57: "Nihil interest, 



ralia, I. 4, c. 27, n. 52. utrum ipse scelus admittas an propter 



21 Cfr. Prov. XXIX, 24; Matth. te ab alio admitti velis." (Migne, 



XVIII. 6; Rom. I, 32; 1 Tim. V, P. L., XXXVI, 162). 



