In his moral conscience, -teaches Pope Benedict XVI- man in his integrity – intelligence, emotions, and will – realizes his own vocation to goodness; so that the choice of good or evil in the concrete situations of existence results in profoundly marking the human person in every expression of his being.
Newsroom (31/10/2021 8:15 AM, Gaudium Press) The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that moral conscience is that “judgement of reason by which the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he is about to perform or has already performed” (n. 1778). Indeed, it is the task of the moral conscience to discern good from evil in the various situations of life, so that on the basis of this judgment the human being can freely orient himself towards the good.
To those who would deny the existence of the moral conscience in man, reducing its voice to the result of external conditioning, or to a purely emotional phenomenon, it is important to remember that the moral quality of human action is not an extrinsic or optional value; nor is it the prerogative of Christians or believers, but is associated with all human beings.
In the moral conscience, God speaks to each one and invites us to defend human life at every moment. In this personal bond with the Creator lies the profound dignity of the moral conscience and the reason for its inviolability. In conscience, man in his integrity – intelligence, emotions and will – realizes his own vocation to goodness, so that the choice of good or evil in the concrete situations of existence results in profoundly marking the human person in every expression of his being.
Indeed, the whole man is wounded when his actions are carried out contrary to the precepts of his own conscience. Yet even when man rejects the truth and the good proposed to him by the Creator, God does not abandon him. Rather, through the voice of conscience, He continues to seek him out and to speak to him, so that he will acknowledge his error and open himself to the Divine Mercy which can heal every wound.
BENEDICT XVI (Excerpts from his address to participants at the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, 26/2/2011) In Heralds of the Gospel, Year 10, No. 112, Apr. 2011, p.6.
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm