Conscience

In response to Tom Toles’ editorial cartoon (Op-Ed Page, Dec. 8): It depicted Mikhail Gorbachev exhorting the Pope to end dictatorial rule and to allow his people to follow their own conscience such as is becoming apparent in the Soviet Union.

Let me recall for you the words of one Catholic that were spoken on behalf of Catholic philosophy. “The individual conscience must always be followed; but the individual must make an effort to have a well-formed conscience. Conscience indeed does not have the duty of creating law, but of informing itself first on what the law of God dictates.”

Following one’s conscience should not rest as the goal but rather to merely be the beginning in a concerted effort to attain a well-formed conscience. If you choose to portray a philosophy it seems only fair that you do so fairly, completely and responsibly. The aforementioned quote was made by a man named Albino Luciani. It would seem to most that he was well-qualified to speak on behalf of Catholic philosophy. We knew him as Pope John Paul I.

MARC VIENS

Long Beach