ly caused?
A. We are bound to repair the damage we have unjustly caused.

378 Q. What is the Eighth Commandment?
A. The Eighth Commandment is: Thou shalt not bear false witness against
thy neighbor.

Either in a court, while we are acting as witnesses, or by telling lies
about him at any other time.

379 Q. What are we commanded by the Eighth Commandment?
A. We are commanded by the Eighth Commandment to speak the truth in all
things, and to be careful of the honor and reputation of everyone.

"Reputation." If it be a sin to steal a man's money, which we can
restore to him, it is certainly a much greater sin to steal his good
name, which we can never restore, and especially as we have nothing to
gain from injuring his character. It is a sin to tell evil things about
another--his sins, vices, etc.--even when they are true. The only thing
that will excuse us from telling another's fault is the necessity to do
so in which we are placed, or the good we can do to the person himself
or others by exposing faults. How shall you know when you have injured
the character of another? You have injured another's character if you
made others think less of him than they did before. If you have exposed
some crime that he really committed, your sin is called detraction; if
you accuse him of one he did not commit, your sin is calumny; and if you
maliciously circulate these reports to injure his character, your sin is
slander. But how shall you make reparation for injuring the character of
another? If you have told lies about him, you must acknowledge to those
with whom you have talked that you have told what was untrue about him,
and you must even compensate him for whatever loss he has suffered by
your lies: for example, the loss of his situation by your accusing him
of dishonesty. But if what you said of him was true, how are you to act?
At every opportunity say whatever good you can of him in the presence of
those before whom you have spoken the evil.

380 Q. What is forbidden by the Eighth Commandment?
A. The Eighth Commandment forbids all rash judgments, backbiting,
slanders, and lies.

"Rash judgment"--that is, having in your mind and really believing that
a person is guilty of a certain sin when you have no reason for thinking
so, and no evidence that he is guilty. "Backbiting"--that is, talking
evil of persons behind their backs. You would not like your neighbor to
backbite you, and you have no right to do to him what you wo