Primacy of conscience is a concept in

Catholic moral theology Catholic moral theology is a major category of doctrine in the Catholic Church, equivalent to a religious ethics. Moral theology encompasses Catholic social teaching, Catholic medical ethics, sexual ethics, and various doctrines on individual mo ...

that holds that a person must obey their conscience above all else, even the dictates of Catholic dogma, so long as that conscience is "well-formed". A "well-formed" conscience is one that has considered Catholic dogma deeply and seriously, and in good faith. The concept is cited in

Cardinal Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was previously an Anglican priest and after his conversion became a cardinal. He was an ...

Apologia Pro Vita Sua () is John Henry Newman's history of his religious opinions, showing how his opinions had been formed and how they had led him from Anglicanism to the Catholic Church. It was originally published as a series of pamphlets in 1864 in response to an ...

. It found expression in papal teaching in

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

Gaudium et spes (, "Joys and Hopes"), the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, is one of the four constitutions promulgated during the Second Vatican Council between 1963 and 1965. Issued on 7 December 1965, it was the last and longest publ ...

, part of the constitutions of

Vatican II The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilic ...

. It was also expanded upon in the Winnipeg Statement of the

Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB; ) is the national assembly of the bishop (Catholic Church), bishops of the Catholic Church in Canada. It was founded in 1943, and was officially recognized by the Holy See in 1948. Since the Sec ...

in 1968. Then-Cardinal Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI summarised the concept in his ''Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II'', published in 1968: "Over the pope as the expression of the binding claim of ecclesiastical authority there still stands one's own conscience, which must be obeyed before all else, if necessary even against the requirement of ecclesiastical authority."

References

{{Reflist Catholic moral theology

See also

References