Usury is the practice of charging interest on a loan. Essentially, someone needs money, the debtor, and someone loans out money temporarily, the lender, with the expectation that the debtor will return the money that was borrowed, with extra money, the interest. The longer it takes to pay back the loan, the more interest is added.
This practice is one of the backbones of out entire economic system. Every American is condition to think this is good and normal, and encouraged to partake in this practice when attending University or buying homes. It is so embedded into how we think it may be difficult to see how this practice could be seen as evil.
One short story should suffice, a woman named Lisa Sass took out a $50,000 loan to attend University. Despite making monthly payments, and having a salary of $70,000 a year, she now owes about $100,000.1 This is because the interest on her loan was high, and the minimum payments did not cover the original loan, but the interest that was added. She is stuck in a vicious cycle, she owes more than she ever asked for. Her story is one of many in our times.
Scripture repeatedly condemns the practice of usury. In Exodus we read
If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor, and you shall not exact interest from him (Exod 22:25).
In Deuteronomy we read
You shall not lend upon interest to your brother, interest on money, interest on victuals, interest on anything that is lent for interest (Deut 23:19).
The prophet Ezekiel notes that he who
lends at interest, and takes increase; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominable things; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself (Ezek 18:13).
The Old Testament concessions later remark that interest should not be done to brothers, fellow Israelites, but due to the hardness of the Israelite’s hearts, interest could be done to foreigners (Deut 23:20). The Christian tradition, which gives the graces to soften hearts of stone, has interpreted the true spirit of the Old Testament, and rejected usury of all kinds, since all men are brother in Christ.
Examples from the Church Fathers could be multiplied, showing their hatred for the sin of usury. I will cite St. Augustine, the greatest of the West, who said
It is said in another place “Who does not give his money at usury” (Palm 14, 5). And how detestable it is, how hateful, how abhorrent, I think that the lenders themselves have learned. Yet again, I myself —indeed, our God — who prohibits you from being a [usurious] lender, commands you to be a lender, and it is said to you, lend to God. If you lend to men, you have hope, and if you lend to God, will you not have hope? If you lend to men, that is, increase your money that you will give, from whom you expect to receive something more than what you gave, not money alone, but something more than what you gave, whether it be wheat, or wine, or oil, or whatever: if you expect to receive more than what you gave, you are a lender, and in this you are disapproved, not praised.2
St. Augustine clearly condemns getting any gain from lending money to someone in need. Yet, he says that we should still lend to our brothers, but consider it giving to God, who will replay us more than any human could.
The magisterium has also clearly condemned usury. Pope Benedict XIV (r. 1740-1758) said in Vix Pervenit,
Indeed they proved to be of one mind in their opinions.
I. The nature of the sin called usury has its proper place and origin in a loan contract. This financial contract between consenting parties demands, by its very nature, that one return to another only as much as he has received. The sin rests on the fact that sometimes the creditor desires more than he has given. Therefore he contends some gain is owed him beyond that which he loaned, but any gain which exceeds the amount he gave is illicit and usurious.
II. One cannot condone the sin of usury by arguing that the gain is not great or excessive, but rather moderate or small; neither can it be condoned by arguing that the borrower is rich; nor even by arguing that the money borrowed is not left idle, but is spent usefully, either to increase one’s fortune, to purchase new estates, or to engage in business transactions. The law governing loans consists necessarily in the equality of what is given and returned; once the equality has been established, whoever demands more than that violates the terms of the loan. Therefore if one receives interest, he must make restitution according to the commutative bond of justice; its function in human contracts is to assure equality for each one. This law is to be observed in a holy manner. If not observed exactly, reparation must be made.3
Pope Benedict XIV refutes many points given in our own day. He rejects usury, even if the interest is only a little, or by saying that money should be used to make more money. The fact that more than more justly deserves is being given brings sin.
Pope Leo XIII (r. 1878-1903) critiqued usury during the Industrial Revolution. In Rerum Novarum he wrote
The mischief has been increased by rapacious usury, which, although more than once condemned by the Church, is nevertheless, under a different guise, but with like injustice, still practiced by covetous and grasping men. To this must be added that the hiring of labor and the conduct of trade are concentrated in the hands of comparatively few; so that a small number of very rich men have been able to lay upon the teeming masses of the laboring poor a yoke little better than that of slavery itself.4
Pope Leo XIII remarked, that by usury, a small group of financiers, will be able to take advantage of the entire society, and turn them all into their slaves. Usury slowly chips at the common man and his family, causing them to owe all they make to their lenders, until they dot even own themselves.
In our own day, our beloved fellow American and current Supreme Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV has reaffirmed that the Church condemns usury. He notes
The negative dynamics of usury manifest themselves at different levels. There is a form of usury that apparently seems to want to help those in financial difficulty, but which soon reveals itself for what it is: a suffocating burden. The consequences are paid especially by fragile people, such as those who are victims of gambling. However, it also affects those who have to face difficult moments, such as for instance extraordinary medical treatment or unexpected expenses beyond their means or those of their families. What first presents itself as a helping hand in reality becomes, in the long run, a torment.
And these even happens at the level of countries around the world. Unfortunately, usurious financial systems can bring entire peoples to their knees. Similarly, we cannot overlook “those whose usurious and avaricious dealings lead to the hunger and death of their brethren in the human family” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. [2269]): their responsibilities are grave and they fuel structures of iniquitous sin.5
The average American cannot get an education, nor obtain a vehicle, nor own a home, nor seek medical attention without submitting themselves to a banking class which is bringing nations to its knees. This amassing of wealth is contrary to the common good. Usury makes the purpose of the economy the enrichment of a small amount of bankers, instead of ensuring that the family has the means that it needs to become holy.
As such, a Catholic vision for our great nation, must involve the end of usury, which is the only way to ensure that our people are free, and that the economy works for us.
1 Robin Madell, I borrowed $50,000 to pay for college 10 years ago — now I owe double. The interest fees are screwing everyone over. Business Insider. Jan 21, 2023
2 St. Augustine, Ennaratio in Psalmum XXXVI, PL 36:386, Dictum est alio loco: “Qui pecuniam suam non dedit ad usuram” (Psalm. XIV, 5).
Et quam detestabile sit, quam odiosum, quam exsecrandum, puto quia et ipsi feneratores noverunt. Rursus autem ego ipse — imo Deus noster — qui te prohibet esse feneratorem, iubet te esse feneratorem; et dicitur tibi: Fenera Deo. Si feneras homini, habes spem; et si feneras Deo, spem non habebis? Si feneraveris homini, id est, mutuo pecuniam tuam dederis, a quo aliquid plus quam dedisti exspectes accipere, non pecuniam solam, sed aliquid plus quam dedisti, sive illud triticum sit, sive vinum, sive oleum, sive quodlibet aliud: si plus quam dedisti exspectas accipere, fenerator es, et in hoc improbanda est, non laudanda.
3 Pope Benedict XIV, Vix Pervenit 3
4 Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum 3
5 Pope Leo XIV, To the Members of the National Anti-Usury Council, 18 October, 2025
