[27] When they had brought them in and made them stand before the Sanhedrin, the high priest questioned them, [28] "We gave you strict orders (did we not?) to stop teaching in that name. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and want to bring this man's blood upon us." [29] But Peter and the apostles said in reply, "We must obey God rather than men. [30] The God of our ancestors raised Jesus, though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree. [31] God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins. [32] We are witnesses of these things, as is the holy Spirit that God has given to those who obey him." [33] When they heard this, they became infuriated and wanted to put them to death.
(CCC 2242) The citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel. Refusing obedience to civil authorities, when their demands are contrary to those of an upright conscience, finds its justification in the distinction between serving God and serving the political community. "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (Mt 22:21). "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29): When citizens are under the oppression of a public authority which oversteps its competence, they should still not refuse to give or to do what is objectively demanded of them by the common good; but it is legitimate for them to defend their own rights and those of their fellow citizens against the abuse of this authority within the limits of the natural law and the Law of the Gospel (GS 74 § 5).
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