AMBIZIONE. - Etymologically, it derives from the Latin word ambire, “to go around,” or to canvass for the purpose of obtaining honours or offices.
In a broad sense, very frequent in popular speech, a. means the desire to assert oneself, to attain honours, to rise to positions of responsibility. In this sense one is accustomed to speak of noble and holy a.
In a narrower sense, and the only one occurring in moral theology, it means an inordinate desire and unbridled pursuit of honours and offices. Thus understood, it arises from pride. S. Tommaso, in the Sum. Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵇ, q. 131, a. 1, defines it thus: “A. is a sin by which honour is pursued in an inordinate manner, either because one does not deserve it, or because it is not referred to God but solely to oneself.”
A., as s. Tommaso already observes in the same article, may manifest itself in three ways, according to the different forms of inordinate pursuit and craving for honours, offices, and dignities: 1) by desiring dignities and honours greater than those that may befit the person desiring them; 2) by seeking glory and honours through unlawful actions or means—for example, by intrigues, uprisings, rebellions, etc.; 3) by seeking honours through an actual offence against God. This vice may even become a grave sin, as in the following cases: a) when the ambitious person makes honours his ultimate end; b) when he seeks honours to the grave detriment of his neighbour or to the disparagement of God’s honour; c) when he seeks and obtains honours by gravely unlawful means.