In short, I’d have answered, “I’d resist the request and condemn it unless the circumstances and nature of the request were independently and freely determined by me to be moral and just. You need to give me an idea on what such a hypothetical circurmstance might be moral and just as I can’t imagine it right now.”
You shouldn’t let this obvious Catholic antagonist put you on the defensive by proposing an extreme hypothetical case w/ out greater context.
The Catechism is quite clear on this My comments are in bold:
ARTICLE 6
MORAL CONSCIENCE
1776 “Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment. . . . For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God. . . . His conscience is man’s most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths.”
I. The Judgment of Conscience
1777 Moral conscience, present at the heart of the person, enjoins him at the appropriate moment to do good and to avoid evil. It also judges particular choices, approving those that are good and denouncing those that are evil. It bears witness to the authority of truth in reference to the supreme Good to which the human person is drawn, and it welcomes the commandments. When he listens to his conscience, the prudent man can hear God speaking. **If the Pope asked me to kill Hitler, I might find it moral because it is necessary to prevent the death of others (the morality is found in the intended effect which is to save others). But if it was to kill my wife, my conscience would tell me it was evil and I’d resist the Pope’s order. **
1778 Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he is going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already completed. In all he says and does, man is obliged to follow faithfully what he knows to be just and right. It is by the judgment of his conscience that man perceives and recognizes the prescriptions of the divine law:
Conscience is a law of the mind; yet [Christians] would not grant that it is nothing more; I mean that it was not a dictate, nor conveyed the notion of responsibility, of duty, of a threat and a promise. . . . [Conscience] is a messenger of him, who, both in nature and in grace, speaks to us behind a veil, and teaches and rules us by his representatives. Conscience is the aboriginal Vicar of Christ.50
(1779 and 1780 were deleted for space reasons and I believe not relevant to the thread. There was no intention to be selective in the text. If I was so, please clarify.)
1781 Conscience enables one to assume responsibility for the acts performed. If man commits evil, the just judgment of conscience can remain within him as the witness to the universal truth of the good, at the same time as the evil of his particular choice. The verdict of the judgment of conscience remains a pledge of hope and mercy. In attesting to the fault committed, it calls to mind the forgiveness that must be asked, the good that must still be practiced, and the virtue that must be constantly cultivated with the grace of God: While the Pope may have to face consequences for using his position to induce me to do evil, the consequences are still mine and I’ll have to face God for what I did at the Pope’s direction
We shall . . . reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
1782 Man has the right to act in conscience and in freedom so as personally to make moral decisions. "He must not be forced to act contrary to his conscience. Nor must he be prevented from acting according to his conscience, especially in religious matters."53 In short, even the Pope can’t force me to violate my conscience. Granted, if the Pope is speaking ex cathedra and rather as just Benny, my faith requires me to take special note of the Pope’s words. However, the order to kill someone is outside the normal perogative of even the Pope. Such a request should be taken with great skepticism even if it are request to murder Hitler.
