The Baltimore Catechism says “Man is a creature composed of body and soul, and made to the image and likeness of God.” The Catechism further states “The soul is like God because it is a spirit having understanding and free will, and is destined to live forever.”

Pope Pius XII, in his encyclical Humani generis, teaches that the human soul, being spiritual, cannot be the result of evolution. Our body comes from our parents, but our soul is created directly by God out of nothing.

Pius XII also affirmed the teaching that the first man and woman were Adam and Eve, who were the first parents of the whole human race. He wrote, “The faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains that either after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents.”

Such an opinion cannot be reconciled with the doctrine of original sin.

Original innocence

God created Adam and Eve and placed them in paradise. God gave Adam and Eve both supernatural and preternatural gifts.

The chief supernatural gift which Adam and Eve had was sanctifying grace. The soul is life for the body, and sanctifying grace is life for the soul. Without the soul there is no natural life for the body, and without sanctifying grace there is no supernatural life for the soul. No one can be saved or enter heaven without sanctifying grace.

The preternatural gifts which Adam and Eve enjoyed were: great knowledge, control of the passions by reason, and freedom from suffering and death. “Preternatural” means “beyond nature.”

Adam is the head of the human race. If Adam had not sinned he would have passed on both supernatural and preternatural gifts to the whole human family.

Paradise lost

Adam and Eve were given a commandment by God not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They were to prove their love for God by humility and obedience.

However Adam and Eve followed the inspiration of the devil and disobeyed God. Adam committed sin, and thus he lost all the gifts he had received over and above human nature (supernatural and preternatural gifts) for himself and for his descendents.

We, as descendents of Adam, are conceived without sanctifying grace. We call this state “original sin.”

As the result of original sin we also lost preternatural gifts: instead of great knowledge we have ignorance; instead of control of the passions by reason we have a strong inclination to sin (concupiscence); instead of freedom from sickness and death we have suffering and death.

The remedy

There is one big difference between angels and men. After the angels had sinned, there was no repentance for them. They turned away from God forever. But after human beings have sinned there is the possibility of returning to God by contrition. Only human beings are capable of contrition and repentance.

After the fall, when Satan, contrary to his own experience and expectation, perceived the effects of contrition, he must have been filled with confusion and rage. Moreover, God promised to send a Redeemer so that mankind could recover sanctifying grace and cope with the effects of original sin.

God said to the devil, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gn 3:15).

“O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!” (The Exsultet).

博秩模天主教要理定義：「人」是靈魂和肉身的組合，按天主肖像而受造 … 靈魂肖似天主，不死不滅，有理智和自由意志。

教宗庇約十二的「人類創造」通諭，聲明人的靈魂是天主從虛無中直接創造的精神體，而並非「進化」的產品；亞當、厄娃是一男、一女，是整個人類唯一的始祖 —— 世代人類血肉軀體唯一之源，否則，便與「原罪」的當信道理相違背。

原始純潔

天主創造原祖時，賞給他們超性和優性的恩典，讓他們寄活在地堂樂園裡。

天主賦予原祖最重要的超性恩典，就是寵愛。 肉身沒有靈魂便是死亡，靈魂缺乏寵愛就不能活化超性的生命，喪失永恆的福樂。

原祖擁有的優性恩典，包括傾注的知識、肉身順從靈魂、無疾無苦、長生不老。亞當既是人類的始祖，理論上，一切恩典應可世襲相傳，延綿共享。

失去樂土

天主命令原祖不能吃樂園內的「知善惡果」，他們要以謙遜和服從，活出對天主的愛。可惜，他們誤信魔鬼的謊言，叛離了天主；自此，人類受到處罰，失去了天主的寵愛，被剝奪了優性所有的恩賜，遭天主趕出地堂。

我們作為原祖的後代，與生俱來地失卻天主的寵愛，且承襲了「原罪」：我們變得無知淺識，理性薄弱，又被本性的私慾偏情操控，除會受到病苦纏擾，更要經歷肉身的死亡。

罪的救藥

同樣受造及叛離了天主的天神和人類，情況截然各異：叛變了的天神，頃刻成為魔鬼，不肯悔改，永與天主為敵。但人類叛逆後，可以因痛悔而得到天主賞予寬恕，重返天主的懷抱。天主恩恤世人，許諾我們一位救世主，藉著祂，我們重獲天主的聖寵，戰勝「原罪」的惡果。天主對撒旦說：「我要把仇恨放在你和女人，你的後裔和她的後裔之間，她的後裔要踏碎你的頭顱，你要傷害他的腳跟。（創世紀3:15）」人類能得救贖的事實令撒旦感到非常迷惑和憤怒。

「復活頌」有一句：亞當的錯失是喜樂的 —— 雖然給我們帶來了罪孽，但也帶給了我們一位偉大的救世主！