George Leo Haydock, Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary (New York: Edward Dunigan and Brother, 1859), Mt 7:1–5.


Ver. 1. Judge not, or condemn not others rashly, that you may not be judged or condemned. Wi.—S. Jerom observes, Christ does not altogether forbid judging, but directs us how to judge. Where the thing does not regard us, we should not undertake to judge. Where it will bear a favourable interpretation, we should not condemn. Magistrates and superiors, whose office and duty require them to judge faults, and for their prevention to condemn and punish them, must be guided by evidence, and always lean towards the side of mercy, where there are mitigating circuмstances. Barefaced vice and notorious sinners should be condemned and reprobated by all. A.—In this place, nothing more is meant than that we should always interpret our neighbor’s actions in the most favourable light. God permits us to judge of such actions as cannot be done with a right intention, as murder. As to indifferent actions, we must always judge in the most favourable sense. There are two things in which we must be particularly on our guard: 1. With what intention such an action was done. 2. Whether the person who appears wicked will not become good. S. Jerom.

Ver. 2. This rule, which God will infallibly follow, should put a check to the freedom with which we so frequently condemn our neighbour. A.—As we behave towards our neighbours, interpreting their actions with charitableness, and excusing their intentions with mildness; or, on the contrary, judging them with severity, and condemning them without pity; so shall we receive our judgment. M.—As the pardon of our sins is proportioned to the pardon we afford to others, so also will our judgment be proportioned to the judgment we pass on others. If our neighbour be surprised by sin, we must not reproach or confound him for it, but mildly admonish him. Correct your brother, not as an enemy, taking revenge, but as a physician, administering appropriate remedies, assisting him with prudent counsels, and strengthening him in the love of God. Chry. hom. xxiii.

Ver. 3. “Mote and beam,” light and grievous sins. M.

Ver. 5. Thou hypocrites, cast out first the beam, &c. Correct first thy own greater faults, before thou censure the lesser failings of others. Wi.

Those who are steeped in the sins of the modern era (which are usually sins of the flesh, or directly related to it, such as abortion and invalid "marriage") whip out this passage as a way to console themselves in their sin, or to try and deflect criticism of their lifestyles.

They say "not to judge", but if you could ask the person (a) "are you aware that this is a mortally sinful act?", and (b) "do you fully want to do it?", it would be pretty hard for them to deny being in mortal sin.  The sin of contraception, for instance, requires a trip to the drugstore and/or a consultation with a physician, and nobody commits such an act on the spur of the moment (coitus interruptus possibly excepted) in paroxysms of passion or with clouded intellect.  Similarly, invalid marriage requires a visit to the courthouse for a marriage license, and seeking out an officiant.  Full consent of the will has to be presumed.

"Judge not, lest you be judged" is a Scripture verse that everyone knows by heart, and much-beloved by those who want to live in sin and not be called out for it.

Necessary distinction is quite simple.  We do not judge the internal forum ... their degree of guilt before God, as only He knows that.  We most certainly do judge actions.

This is precisely Bergoglio's error / heresy in Amoris Laetitia ... claiming that some internal forum introspection can bleed out into the external and nullify moral law.  If you're at the point of doing this exercise, it's because you know now that it contrary to God's law.  You might have had various factors, including ignorance, extenuate guilt in the past ... but that does not project into the present now that you know it's wrong.  What they're really doing is coming up with rationalizations for continuing in the sin by end justifies the means reasoning, falsely under the disguise of internal forum considerations.