VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christians will not invoke conscientious objection to defend human life if they have no idea what the conscience is, said speakers at a Vatican press conference."Believers need consciences that are true, certain and correct," which happens not "through improvisation, but with reflection, dialogue and, sometimes, a tiring search," said Bishop Elio Sgreccia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.
The bishop and others spoke about the conscience at a Feb. 20 Vatican press conference to introduce the academy's Feb. 23-24 congress on "The Christian Conscience in Support of the Right to Life."
Bishop Sgreccia said the conference would look at the right and obligation of physicians, nurses, pharmacists and researchers to declare themselves conscientious objectors when faced with procedures such as abortion, euthanasia or the destruction of human embryos.
But first, he said, participants will look at how the conscience calls people to take positive steps "in service, love and veneration" for every human life.Bishop Sgreccia said it is clear that the church must teach its members what the conscience is and how it matures correctly.
Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney, Australia, said the conscience is not like a new car's satellite navigator -- a voice coming from inside the car's dash telling the driver to turn here, continue or stop there. And it is not simply a gut feeling about the best way to act in a certain situation, he said.
"Too often in recent years those desperate for moral education or guidance have been fobbed off with 'follow your conscience' or 'do whatever seems right to you'" without being helped to understand what a correct conscience is and how it is formed, Bishop Fisher said.
"The classical Christian conception of conscience is of the natural perception of basic moral principles, their application in particular circumstances and the final judgment about what is to be done," he said.
However, the bishop said, "by the 1960s, conscience had come to mean 'strong feeling' or opinion."A real conscience is based on a recognition that objective moral truths exist and that some actions are always right or always wrong, he said.
Bishop Fisher said, "Catholics, as much as anyone else today, are subject to pressures" in society that tell them either that one opinion is as good as another or that tolerance requires them to act as if everyone's opinion is equally valid.
Bishop Sgreccia said he was convinced not only that Christians have a right to act on their consciences in a pluralistic society, but that modern ethical debates, so often decided on the basis of political power or influence, can benefit from reflections offered by Christians with a well-formed conscience.
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