Infallibility and conscience: which has the last word when they conflict?

John Henry Newman, answered from the texts and cited to the page.

The position in brief

Conscience is the aboriginal vicar of Christ and binds absolutely; the definition of 1870 is true and narrower than either its friends or its enemies supposed. Both are held, and neither is a concession to the other.12

Sources

  1. They */ think it holds of God, and not ni man, a-^ -,\\\ Angel walking on the earth would be no citizen or dependent of the Civil Power.
    Difficulties Felt by Anglicans Vol 2, pp. 248–249
  2. This, at least, is how I rend the doctrine of Protestants as well as of Catholics. The rule and measure of duty is not utility, nor expedience, nor the happiness of the greatest number, nor State convenience, nor fitness, order, and the pulchrum.
    A Letter to the Duke of Norfolk, p. 57

Where the argument is made

  • A Letter Addressed to His Grace the Duke of Norfolk (1875), especially the chapters on conscience and on the Syllabus
  • Difficulties Felt by Anglicans (1850)
  • the correspondence of 1870 in the Letters and Diaries

How the argument was received

Quoted by everyone and usually by halves.