In cases where scandal occurs but is less grave, it may lead to a simple misunderstanding.
The improperly catechized can easily mistake vice for virtue and be led into sin. Given the poorly formed faith of so many Catholics, this means that today the opportunities for scandal are many. It becomes more grave when the scandalized person is especially weak or when others are deliberately led into grave sin.
The Catechism names two more factors that can increase the gravity of scandal. This can cause a mistrust of the hierarchy and a disrespect for the priesthood. The faithful feel betrayed by their shepherd, who should be witnessing to Christ’s truth. Even when the faithful don’t believe it, the above statement is still scandalous. Since people trust their bishops to teach them the true Catholic faith, their errors are particularly harmful. This example displays a second, closely related element of scandal: it increases when the speaker has a duty to teach the truth. If the faithful (or unfaithful) believe him, they move away from Jesus Christ and the salvation he offers us. Because of the authority of the episcopate, the bishop can influence more people more effectively, increasing the gravity of the harm done to those who hear him. It is one thing for a four-year-old to say, “Jesus isn’t the Son of God,” but it would be another thing entirely for a bishop to say this.
The Catechism explains that scandal is greater according to the authority of the one scandalizing. He damages virtue and integrity he may even draw his brother into spiritual death.” Our Lord militates against scandal, and even ties a curse to those who promote it: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt 18:6). The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor’s tempter. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines scandal as “an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil.
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