Day 240: Erroneous Judgment of Conscience

Ignorance of Christ and his Gospel, bad example given by others, enslavement to one's passions, assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience, rejection of the Church's authority and her teaching, lack of conversion and of charity: these can be at the source of errors of judgment in moral conduct. CCC 1792

In today's reading, the Catechism discusses erroneous judgment of conscience. The source for this can be one of those quoted above, or even come from what is called "invincible ignorance" (CCC 1793), but "such ignorance and errors are not always free of guilt" (CCC 1801). Regardless, we have to seek the proper formation of our conscience, as the Catechism notes:

The Word of God is a light for our path. We must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put it into practice. This is how moral conscience is formed. (CCC 1802)

The Catechism Compendium gives this summary on erroneous judgments made by moral conscience:  

A person must always obey the certain judgment of his own conscience, but he could make erroneous judgments for reasons that may not always exempt him from personal guilt. However, an evil act committed through involuntary ignorance is not imputable to the person, even though the act remains objectively evil. One must therefore work to correct the errors of moral conscience. (#376)

Finally, the Catechism Companion, Vol II has some commentary on this:

Someone who purposely does what his conscience tells him is wrong "would condemn himself" (CCC 1790)... Sin can also deaden our conscience. God is the one who helps us see and hear... Even if we did not know, an evil action is still evil, and we must continue in the process of forming our conscience. All of us are called to become virtuous because we are called to be free. (p. 244)