CCC 1754
Life in Christ›SECTION ONE MAN'S VOCATION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT›CHAPTER ONE THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON›I. The Sources of Morality
The circumstances, including the consequences, are secondary elements of a moral act. They contribute to increasing or diminishing the moral goodness or evil of human acts (for example, the amount of a theft). They can also diminish or increase the agent's responsibility (such as acting out of a fear of death). Circumstances of themselves cannot change the moral quality of acts themselves; they can make neither good nor right an action that is in itself evil.