Venial sin

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According to Roman Catholicism, a venial sin (meaning "forgivable" sin) is a lesser sin which does not result in a complete separation from God and eternal damnation in Hell. A venial sin involves a "temporary loss of grace" from God.

A venial sin meets at least one of the following criteria:

it does not concern a "grave matter",
it is not committed with full knowledge, or
it is not committed with both deliberate and complete consent.

As the above criteria are the three criteria for mortal sin stated negatively (via de Morgan's theorem), a sin which met none of these extenuating conditions would necessarily be considered mortal.

Each venial sin that one commits adds to the penance that one must do. Penance left undone during life converts to punishment in purgatory. A venial sin can be left unconfessed.

Venial sins usually remain venial no matter how many one commits. They cannot "add up" to collectively constitute a mortal sin, except in certain cases of theft, where one steals a very small amount of money or goods many times.

[edit] Forgivable sins in the Bible

The New Testament distinguishes among sins in various contexts.

In 1 John, the author distinguishes between two types of sin (1 John 5:16-17). One class of sin leads to the loss of eternal life, but eternal life can be regained if a fellow Christian prays that the sinner be forgiven. The other class of sin leads to death, and the Christian is not instructed to pray that a fellow Christian be forgiven for such a sin. Since either class of sin puts one's eternal life in jeopardy, both would fall in the category of mortal sin.

The New Testament also mentions the unforgivable sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:28-29).

The New Testament does not refer to a class of sins that leads to punishment other than death (venial sins).