We Want No More Lies

In Venezuela there are many people of good will who have been working for several years for reconciliation and peace in our beloved homeland. Just as we condemn every message of hatred, every rumor and every baseless lie spread through social networks or the media, we also condemn the use of lies to keep our people deceived. If we want Peace, we must always tell the Truth because, as John Paul II said, peace requires four essential conditions: truth, love, justice and freedom.

In my article today, drawing on the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), I hope to shed light for those blinded by hatred, by the thirst for power, or by anything else that is not Love of neighbor, so that they understand the great harm they can do to a society when they lend themselves to spreading lies.

The Catechism explains that the Eighth Commandment of God’s Law forbids misrepresenting the truth in our relations with others. This moral precept flows from the vocation of God’s holy people to bear witness to their God, who is the Truth and wills the truth. Offenses against the truth, in words or deeds, express a refusal to commit oneself to moral uprightness; they are fundamental infidelities to God (cf. CCC 2464).

For a society to be full and just, it must live in the Truth, because God is the source of all truth, and the members of his people are called to live in the truth. Truth as uprightness in human action and speech is called truthfulness, sincerity or candor: the virtue of being truthful in one’s deeds and speaking the truth in one’s words, avoiding duplicity, pretense and hypocrisy (cf. CCC 2466-2468).

If we are true Christians we must understand that Christ’s disciple agrees to “live in the truth,” that is, in the simplicity of a life in keeping with the Lord’s example, abiding in His Truth. As Saint John writes: “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth” (1 Jn 1:6; cf. CCC 2470).

Lying is no small matter. Lying is serious, all the more so when it plays with the trust of a people who want and need to know the truth in order to live in Peace and Justice. The Catechism teaches that lying is the most direct offense against the truth: to lie is to speak or act against the truth in order to lead into error someone who has the right to know it. By damaging man’s relationship with the truth and with his neighbor, a lie offends against the fundamental bond between man, his word and the Lord. The gravity of a lie is measured by the nature of the truth it distorts, the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies and the harm suffered by its victims. Although lying in itself is a venial sin, it becomes mortal when it seriously damages the virtues of justice and charity (cf. CCC 2483-2484).

It adds that lying is condemnable by its very nature, because it profanes speech, whose purpose is to communicate known truth to others. The deliberate intention to lead a neighbor into error through words contrary to the truth is a fault against justice and charity, and the guilt is greater when the intention to deceive risks having deadly consequences for those led astray. Lying, the Catechism says, is a real form of violence against others: it attacks their ability to know, which is the condition of every judgment and decision; it contains the seed of discord and all the evils that follow from it; it is fatal for any society, because it undermines trust among people and tears the fabric of social relationships (cf. CCC 2485-2486).

So, we want no more lies! Venezuelans of good will want no more rumors, gossip, back-and-forth, insults, abuse or falsehoods, wherever they come from. All Venezuelans want to live in Peace, and for that we urgently need all our leaders to set an example of Truth, Reconciliation and Unity. We want a Venezuela that is United and at Peace, because that is what we dream of for our children and grandchildren. Let us live in the Truth and tell the Truth, whatever it may be! Only then can Justice and Peace begin to reign in our beloved homeland, and we Venezuelans will be grateful and able to work together for a better country for all.