How Did Evil Come to Be?

God’s creatures—beginning with the devil and his demonic confrères, and then mankind, beginning with our first parents—not the creator, are responsible for the moral evil in the world. Moral evil results from the misuse of the God-given gift of free will, first with the fallen angels and then mankind, and associated general disorder results from that moral evil.

For more on this general subject, please see our responses on how the free will of creatures can’t thwart God’s plan, the devil’s creation and related consequences, and how St. Augustine had it right on free will and John Calvin didn’t.