Recently I read Pope John Paul II’s magnificent encyclical Veritatis Splendor. I highly recommend it to you, assuming of course that I’m not the last man on earth to read it. :-( It’s my plan to present several posts based upon portions of VS that I find interesting, as I did with Fides et Ratio.
The general subject of the encyclical is morality, both as it may be known by way of natural law and through revelation and the teaching of the Church. It firmly stands for a Catholic morality that is consistent with the Church’s teaching throughout the ages. As such it pretty much undermines the silly claims from some quarters that the Church today or John Paul in particular have become “modernist.” In particular it is clear that neither he nor the Church espouses any notion that the moral authority of the conscience is absolute and may not be questioned. The conscience may be wrong, and though it is an error to disobey conscience, this doesn’t mean that we are free to do or believe whatever suits us or our consciences.
Aquinas, Etc. 
Leave a Reply