The Cardinal S Conscience

Prepared and co-published by the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, this book is a combination of two lengthy essays written by Cardinal Ratzinger and delivered in talks when he was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Both talks deal with the importance of conscience and its exercise in particular circumstances. Ratzinger's reflections show that contemporary debates over the nature of conscience have deep historical and philosophical roots. He says that a person is bound to act in accord with his conscience, but he makes it clear that there must be reliable, proven sources for the judgment of conscience in moral issues, other than the subjective reflections of each individual. The always unique and profound insights that the new Pope Benedict XVI brings to perennial problems reminds the reader of his strong warning before the recent Papal conclave of the great dangers today of the "dictatorship of relativism."

This is the story of my dismissal as the Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Toowoomba, in Queensland, Australia. It relates, from my perspective, the dealings I had with various Congregations (Dicasteries) of the Vatican’s Curia in Rome and with certain cardinals and officials in those Congregations, as well as with Pope Benedict XVI, regarding pastoral activities and a letter I wrote to the diocese in Advent of 2006 while the Bishop of Toowoomba. The book details the background and events which led to my being asked by Pope Benedict XVI to resign as Bishop of Toowoomba when I had a meeting with him in Rome on the 4th of June 2009. I did not agree to resign, but negotiated with Pope Benedict to take early retirement which was announced on 2 May 2011. The book is accompanied by various Appendices of documents and letters from this period, including several letters from cardinals in Rome and the pope. Some of the documents and the Appendices have already been published in various places or are in the public domain in some way. They are published here again so that these documents are all in one place. The book has been written to give the story from my perspective of what happened in the lead up to my taking early retirement after refusing to resign. In the view of a number of civil lawyers, canon lawyers and theologians, both here in Australia and overseas, I was deprived of natural justice as I was in no way able to appeal the judgments or decisions that were made in these circumstances. This was made clear to me by the three cardinals in Rome with whom I had most contact over the time and by Pope Benedict XVI himself.’

RELIGION& CIVILITY: The Primacy of Conscience (the third book of the breakthrough "Second Enlightenment Trilogy") reveals trial-and-error failures and successes of past and present civilizations. Man inherits from nature hard-won intelligence (cortical consciousness) to learn from errors of irreligion and incivility. Though more painful, error is sometimes the most convincing teacher.

The writings on the nature of conscience are many, and those of John Henry Cardinal Newman about conscience are among the very best. Conscience the Path to Holiness: Walking with Newman is the work of ten Newman scholars from three continents. Against the contemporary view that conscience means one's inalienable right to assert with impunity whatever one feels personally convinced of, this book reclaims a richer and more balanced presentation of conscience that avoids what Newman, in his day,...

Introduction -- The conscience problem and Catholic doctrine -- Political origins : totalitarianism, world war, and mass conscription -- The State's paperwork and the Catholic Peace Fellowship -- Sex, conscience and the American Catholic Church 1968 -- Psychology and the self -- The conscience lobby -- Beyond the Catholic Church.

The first full commentary on Piers Plowman since the late nineteenth century is inaugurated with the publication of the first two of its five projected volumes.