The seven deadly sins are almost as old as Christianity. But they were only formalized in the 6th century, when Pope Gregory the Great, based on the Epistles of São Paulo, defined the main vices of conduct as seven: Gluttony, Lust, Avarice, Wrath, Pride, Sloth It is envy.
The list only became “official” in the Catholic Church in the 13th century, with the Summa Theologica, a document published by the theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas. In the document, he explains what the seven sins have that the others don’t.
The term “capital” derives from the Latin captionwhich means head, leader or boss, which means that the seven infractions are the “leaders” of all the others.
And, from the theological point of view, the most serious sin is pride, after all, it is in this category that original sin falls: Adam and Eve accepted the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge, wanting to be equal to God.
The Church even tried to offer solutions for deadly sins by creating a list of seven fundamental virtues – humility, discipline, charity, chastity, patience, generosity It is temperance – but the sins ended up getting more famous.
Other religions, such as Judaism and Protestantism, also have the concept of sin in their doctrines, but the seven deadly sins are unique to Catholicism.