Cardinal Burke attacks false notion of conscience, implicitly criticising the Pope

Presenting the book 'Èschaton', by Cristiano Ceresani, the Cardinal cleared up misunderstandings arising from a false idea of conscience. Instead, it is the voice of God in the soul and a guide in the truth of Christ towards holiness. Even at the price of the 'white martyrdom' of witness.

We publish an extract of the speech delivered by Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke last 13 April in Rome, in the Temple Hall of Vibia Sabina and Hadrian, on the occasion of the presentation of the book, Èschaton. Jesus of Nazareth and the Future of the World by Cristiano Ceresani, published by Cantagalli.

Conscience, an infallible guide to holiness of life

If we wish to seek holiness of life, to live on earth as true citizens of heaven, that is, to give our life to Christ, without any reservation, our heart must seek its wisdom and strength in His glorious pierced Heart; our conscience must be trained to listen only to God's voice and to reject that which would weaken or compromise, in any way, our witness to the truth in which He alone instructs us in the Church. Through daily prayer and devotion, knowledge of the saints with whom we are in communion in the Church, and study of the Church's official teaching, our conscience is formed according to God's will, according to His law which is life for us.

The very goodness of our actions strengthens our conscience in its consistency with what is true, beautiful and good. It is conscience, the voice of God speaking to souls, which is, in the words of the Holy Cardinal John Henry Newman, 'the original vicar of Christ'. As such, conscience is always in tune with Christ Himself who instructs and informs it through His Vicar, the Roman Pontiff, and the Bishops in communion with the Roman Pontiff. Cardinal Newman observed that conscience 'is the messenger of Him, who, both in the world of nature and in the world of grace, speaks to us behind a veil and instructs and governs us through His representatives'.

Today we must beware of a false notion of conscience, which would actually use conscience to justify sinful acts, the betrayal of our status as citizens of heaven on an earthly pilgrimage. In [...] his 2010 Christmas address, Pope Benedict reflected at length on the notion of conscience in Cardinal Newman's writings, contrasting it with a false notion of conscience that is pervasive in our culture. He described the difference between the Church's understanding of conscience, faithfully and brilliantly taught by Cardinal Newman, and the popular contemporary understanding, in these words

In modern thought, the word 'conscience' means that in matters of morality and religion, the subjective dimension, the individual, constitutes the final instance of decision. The world is divided into the realms of the objective and the subjective. To the objective belong those things that can be calculated and verified by experiment. Religion and morality are removed from these methods and are therefore considered as realms of the subjective. Here, there would ultimately be no objective criteria. The last instance that can decide here would therefore only be the subject, and the word 'conscience' expresses this: in this sphere, only the individual with his insights and experiences can decide. Newman's conception of consciousness is diametrically opposed. For him, 'conscience' means man's capacity for truth: the ability to recognise precisely in the decisive areas of his existence - religion and morality - a truth, the truth. Conscience, man's capacity to recognise the truth, imposes on him, at the same time, the duty to walk towards the truth, to seek it and to submit to it where he encounters it. Conscience is the capacity for truth and obedience to truth, which shows itself to the man who seeks it with an open heart.

Conscience, therefore, does not isolate each of us as the arbiter of what is right and good, but unites us in the search for the one Truth, ultimately Our Lord Jesus Christ who is the only arbiter of right and good, so that our thoughts, words and actions put this truth into practice. In his address to the German Parliament in September 2011, Pope Benedict XVI, referring to a text from St Paul's Letter to the Romans concerning the natural moral law and its primary witness, conscience, stated: 'Here the two fundamental concepts of nature and conscience appear, where 'conscience' is none other than Solomon's 'docile heart', reason open to the language of being'. Further illustrating the sources of law in nature and reason, referring to the popular interest in ecology as a means to respect nature, he observed:

However, I would like to forcefully address a point that - it seems to me - is neglected today as in the past: there is also an ecology of man. Man also possesses a nature that he must respect and which he cannot manipulate at will. Man is not merely a self-creating freedom. Man does not create himself. He is spirit and will, but he is also nature, and his will is right when he respects nature, when he listens to it and when he accepts himself for what he is, and that he did not create himself. This is how and only this is how true human freedom is realised.

Reflecting on the European culture that developed 'from the encounter between Jerusalem, Athens and Rome - from the encounter between Israel's faith in God, the philosophical reason of the Greeks and the legal thought of Rome', he concluded: 'In the awareness of man's responsibility before God and in the recognition of the inviolable dignity of man, of every man, this encounter has established criteria of law, the defence of which is our task at this moment in history'. Although Pope Benedict XVI's reflection is inspired by a concern for the state of law in European culture, his conclusions concerning the foundations of law and, therefore, of order in society are clearly of universal application.

Conclusion: Sanctity of Life and Martyrdom for the Faith

The testimony of sanctity of life is, in fact, martyrdom, in one form or another. In the words of Holy Scripture, it is dying to self in order to live for Christ. It is what the Servant of God Father John A. Hardon, S.I., called "the palpable fact of every true follower of Christ". When we hear the word 'martyrdom', we tend to think exclusively of those who gave their lives for the faithful love of Christ, who were killed because of hatred for Christ and the Christian faith. The 'red' or blood martyrs give the highest form of witness and are our models in bearing daily witness to our love for Christ, even if we are not asked to pour out our lifeblood, as they were asked to do, and they did. We are all called to the white martyrdom of heroic witness to the Catholic faith. The red martyrs also earn us many graces for our daily lives as true witnesses of Christ in the world. In the words of the Servant of God Father Hardon, 'by their sufferings we are all richer, just as by their merits the whole Church becomes holier'. The even more widespread hostility and indifference towards the beliefs we hold most dear tempt us to discouragement and even to avoid the most public witness of our faith.

But the martyrdom to which we are called, and for which we are consecrated and strengthened by the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, requires us to offer our witness tirelessly, confident that God will bear good and lasting fruit. Reflecting at length on the critical state of Christian culture and our response, in accordance with the call to holiness of life and martyrdom for the faith, for our salvation and for the salvation of the world, we recognise that it is Christ himself who makes it possible for us to pursue holiness, to be true martyrs. At the same time, Christ is always with us, as he promised, sustaining us with his grace, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit from his pierced and glorious Heart into our hearts. He accompanies us in our ordinary daily lives and sustains us in our faithful and total witness, leading us safely back to the Father. Cristiano Ceresani, in Èschaton. Jesus of Nazareth and the Future of the World, powerfully testifies that, even in the confusion, error and division of our time - both in the Church and in the world - Christ continues to be, as he promises us, 'the way, the truth and the life'. The Blessed Virgin Mary is our model and our great intercessor in bearing faithful and generous witness to Christ. She is one of us, fully sharing our human nature, but, by God's favour, she was preserved from all stain of sin from the moment of her conception. She was from the first moment of her life and always remains totally for Christ. Pope John Paul II, in his Encyclical Veritatis Splendor, reminds us of the irreplaceable help of our Blessed Mother in bearing witness to martyrdom:

Mary shares our human condition, but in total transparency to God's grace. Not having known sin, she is able to pity every weakness. She understands sinful man and loves him with a mother's love. It is precisely for this reason that she is on the side of truth and shares the Church's burden in calling out moral demands to all and sundry. For the same reason she does not accept that sinful man should be deceived by those who would pretend to love him by justifying his sin, because she knows that in this way the sacrifice of Christ, her Son, would be rendered vain. No absolution, offered by complacent doctrines, even philosophical or theological ones, can make man truly happy: only the cross and the glory of the risen Christ can give peace to his conscience and salvation to his life.

May the Blessed Virgin Mary intercede for us, that we may always be true and faithful witnesses of the living Christ in each one of us and in the whole Church. Let us turn to her in prayer, that she may lead us to her Son with her motherly advice, first given to the wine servants at the wedding in Cana: "Whatever he tells you, do it. May He transform our lives and our world. Thus confirm us in our vocation and mission to be citizens of heaven, while dwelling on earth, that is, to guard and promote a Christian culture in our homes, in our communities, in our nation, and throughout the world.

* Cardinal and former Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura

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