A Catholic should form a right conscience by studying the Faith and obeying the teaching authority of the Catholic Church.

It is the duty of the teaching authority of the Catholic Church, the Magisterium, to guide the faithful in applying the norms and values of Christian morality to specific situations of everyday life.

Christian freedom needs to be directed by the specific circumstances of human life. Accordingly, the consciences of the faithful, even when informed by the virtue of prudence, must be subject to the teaching authority of the Church. It is the Church’s duty to explain the whole moral law authoritatively, in order that it may rightly and correctly make known the objective moral order.

The conscience of the Catholic must pay respectful and obedient attention to the teaching authority of the Catholic Church.