IV. Erroneous Judgment
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.
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."59 In such cases, the person is culpable for the evil he
commits.
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.
1793
If - on the contrary - the ignorance is invincible, or the moral subject is not
responsible for his erroneous judgment, the evil committed by the person cannot
be imputed to him. It remains no less an evil, a privation, a disorder. One
must therefore work to correct the errors of moral conscience.
1794
A good and pure conscience is enlightened by true faith, for charity proceeds
at the same time "from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere
faith."60
The more a correct conscience
prevails, the more do persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and try
to be guided by objective standards of moral conduct.61
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