usury (2024)

FAQs

Is usury a sin Catholic answers? ›

Hence, today, the mere possession of money means a certain value. Whoever hands over this possession can claim in return this value. Thus it is that one acts in demanding an interest. Even today one can still sin against justice by demanding too high an interest, or usury, as it is called.

Aquinas argued against usury from the standpoint of what money was formally: usury was wrong because it was the selling of money, which as a measurement, cannot be sold. “To sell money would be to give simultaneously two different evaluations to the same measure” (53).

In fact there is no direct condemnation of interest-taking in the New Testament; it is even tolerated in the Parable of the Talents.

Usury has a long history. It has primarily become illegal to prevent individuals from predatory loan practices; situations in which people need to borrow money but are charged a high interest rate, often resulting in difficulty paying back the loan with interest and/or financial ruin.

The eternal sin—blasphemy against the Holy Spirit—is the mortal sin of final impenitence, e.g., dying unrepentant, which cannot be forgiven precisely because the sinner refuses to accept forgiveness.

Nevertheless, the 12th canon of the First Council of Carthage (345) and the 36th canon of the Council of Aix (789) have declared it to be reprehensible even for laymen to make money by lending at interest. The canonical laws of the Middle Ages absolutely forbade the practice.

Although there are some who experience gambling as something rewarding and fun, it tends toward being highly addictive and potentially ruinous. The Bible doesn't call gambling a sin as such, although the Bible warns against the love of money and get-rich-quick schemes.

Psalm 15:5 – “Who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Whoever does these things will never be shaken.” And Ezekiel 18:8, 13, 17 all echo this instruction to not lend money at interest to the poor.

Thou shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy victuals for increase. Thou shalt not lend upon interest to thy brother: interest of money, interest of victuals, interest of any thing that is lent upon interest.

The moral condemnation of usury as an oppression of the poor did not disappear, however. It was adopted by socialists, whose antagonism toward capitalists convinced them that a market in money was evil. To them, usury was the “new slavery.”

What is forbidden usury? ›

To remedy the situation, governments tried to make it illegal for institutions to charge unreasonably high interests rates. They also tried to cap the amount of interest that could be charged. Today, the term usury is defined as the illegal practice of loaning money at interest rates that are unreasonably high.

The rate of interest upon a judgment rendered in any court of this State shall be set by the Legislature at not more than 10 percent per annum. Such rate may be variable and based upon interest rates charged by federal agencies or economic indicators, or both.

As the Church teaches, “Those whose usurious and avaricious dealings lead to the hunger and death of their brethren in the human family indirectly commit homicide, which is imputable to them” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2269).

The Christian church drew on biblical passages and moral and religious reasons to define usury as a sin. The Church placed a ban on the practice of usury to prevent this “evil”. In Islam, the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad led Muslims to also view usury as a crime.

Merchant wealth challenged the Church's view of usury. Usury was the practice of lending money and charging a very high interest rate. German and English nobility disliked Italian domination of the Church.