pride

pride, in Roman Catholic theology, one of the seven deadly sins, considered by some to be the gravest of all sins. In the theological sense, pride is defined as an excessive love of one’s own excellence. As a deadly sin, pride is believed to generate other sins and further immoral behaviour and is countered by the heavenly virtue of humility.

Unlike the healthy pride of self-affirmation, sinful pride disposes a person to think more of oneself than one ought to, with no recognition of or appreciation for the gifts one has received from God. The danger of pride is that it pushes God to the margins of one’s spiritual, moral, and temporal existence, putting the prideful person at the moral centre. If God exists at all to the prideful person, it is only to gratify one’s ego and sense of importance. Pride causes a person to negate God and take all credit for one’s accomplishments.

The seven deadly sins were first enumerated by Pope Gregory I (the Great) in the 6th century and later elaborated by St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. Along with pride, they include wrath, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, and sloth. Although the concept of the seven deadly sins is not found in scripture, the sin of pride is frequently warned against in the Bible. In the Book of Genesis, the serpent tempts Eve in the Garden of Eden by appealing to pride and envy, with the promise that she “will be like God, knowing good and evil” after eating the forbidden fruit. A famous proverb in the Old Testament cautions, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Conversely, multiple references in the New Testament quote Jesus’s advice on the virtue of humility, “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted” (Gospel According to Matthew 23:12).

In Christian tradition, pride is also associated with Satan. It was the sin of pride that led Lucifer, the most beautiful and perfect of God’s angels, to rebel against God and fall from heaven. Drawing upon the war in heaven described in the Book of Revelation, some Christians believe Lucifer engaged in a battle with St. Michael the Archangel and was subsequently cast into hell by God after his defeat. The ousted angel Lucifer subsequently became known as the Devil or Satan, and the angels that joined his rebellion and were likewise cast into hell became known as demons. The role of pride in both the fall of Satan and of Adam and Eve was particularly popularized in John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost.

A number of Christian thinkers have written influentially about pride (or its counterpart, humility), including St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Ávila, St. Catherine of Siena, and C.S. Lewis. In 2019 Pope Francis warned against pride, calling it the worst of the “devious sins, which lurk in the heart without us even realizing it.” In 2022, during a weeklong ecumenical event, he called pride an obstacle to communion and unity between Christians.