Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 298 – Part I.

YOUCAT Question n. 298 - Part I. Is someone who in good conscience acts wrongly guilty in God’s sight?

(Youcat answer) No. If a person has thoroughly examined himself and arrived at a certain judgment, he must in any case follow his inner voice, even at the risk of doing something wrong.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 1790) A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself. Yet it can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes erroneous judgments about acts to be performed or already committed. (CCC 1791) This ignorance can often be imputed to personal responsibility. This is the case when a man "takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing sin" (GS 16). In such cases, the person is culpable for the evil he commits.  

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) God does not blame us for the objective harm that results from a wrong judgment of conscience, provided that we ourselves are not responsible for having a badly formed conscience. While it is quite true that ultimately one must follow one’s conscience, it must likewise be kept in mind that people have swindled, murdered, tortured, and betrayed others on the basis of what they wrongly supposed to be their conscience.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 1792) Ignorance of Christ and his Gospel, bad example given by others, enslavement to one's passions, assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience,  rejection of the Church's authority and her teaching, lack of conversion and of charity: these can be at the source of errors of judgment in moral conduct.

 
(This question: Is someone who in good conscience acts wrongly guilty in God’s sight? is continued)