Obedience and conscience

“Certainly, if I am obliged to bring religion into after-dinner toasts ... I shall drink – to the Pope, if you please — still, to conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards.”

This quotation has become one of John Henry Newman’s best known sayings, taken from his Letter to the Duke of Norfolk. It is included in the text for panel 21 of this exhibition on Blessed Newman that is now travelling around the UK.  

But what does the quotation mean? Alongside the quotation in the exhibition we see a copy of this painting by Masolino in the Brancacci chapel in Florence. St Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost. To me, this painting offers a wonderful insight into Newman’s understanding of the relationship between conscience and the authority of the Pope.

First of all, though, it helps to understand something of Newman’s own journey of conscience. Newman followed his conscience at a huge cost to what one might say were his own interests:

“The loss of friends what a great evil is this! The loss of position, of name, of esteem - such a stultification of myself - such a triumph to others. It is no proud thing to unsay what I had said, to pull down what I have attempted to build up.”(Letter to Keble)

Newman’s journey led him to become a Catholic, to fully accept the teaching of the Church. In the same Letter to the Duke of Norfolk, Newman goes on to say:

“I say there is only one Oracle of God, the Holy Catholic Church and the Pope as her head. To her teaching I have ever desired all my thoughts, all my words to be conformed.”

There is no tension in this painting between the authority of the Pope and the consciences of the faithful who have been brought together as one. Just as the Holy Spirit inspires St Peter as he preaches, so also the Holy Spirit is illuminating the consciences of each of those who are listening. Each of the listeners is captivated by St Peter’s message, but in their own unique way. Each pair of eyes, each heart, is captivated in a unique way by the same Holy Spirit. The crowd is brought together in the Church, as they ask St Peter “What must we do to be saved?”

A similar synergy exists between the heart and conscience of Blessed Newman, and the teaching of the Church. The synergy can only be experienced if you place obedience to the voice of God speaking in the depths of your own being above every other consideration.