venial sin

In Christianity, a less serious sin, or a sin that causes only a partial loss of grace, as opposed to mortal sin, which brings eternal damnation unless repented of and forgiven.

In the early church a distinction was made between mortal sins such as apostasy, murder, and adultery, and less serious, or venial sins. The church drew up a list of mortal sins which had to be confessed before participating in the Eucharist. Current Roman Catholic teaching takes account of the inner attitude of the person committing the offence, when measuring the gravity of sin.