Does a person commit a sin if he or she engages in sexual activity outside of marriage?
• Homosexual activity… as distinguished from homosexual orientation, is morally wrong. Like heterosexual persons, homosexuals are called to give witness to chastity, avoiding, with God’s grace, behavior which is wrong for them, just as nonmarital sexual relations are wrong for heterosexuals. Nonetheless because heterosexuals can usually look forward to marriage, and homosexuals…might not, the Christian community should provide them a special degree of pastoral understanding and care. US Bishops’ Pastoral Letter, To Live In Christ Jesus, 1976 • In fact, circumstances may exist… which would reduce or remove the culpability of the individual [engaged in homosexual activity] in a given instance. Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, 1986, #11 • For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent. Catechism
