Eggzackly.
One of the things that struck me most strongly in conversations with Mormon missionaries is their belief that if you sincerely pray to God for direction, you’ll get a warm, fuzzy feeling from the Holy Spirit in your tummy that will direct you to do the right thing.
But I think the Bible is very clear that we cannot trust out conscience to know what is right. We are too expert at deceiving ourselves. Conscience must be guided by God’s Word, not by our feeeellliiinnnngggs.
The in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit and a person’s conscience are two very different things.
I don’t know what Mormons believe on the subject.
The Pope would agree with you. Well said.
However, the Pope was not asked about believers, but about nonbelievers. For the nonbelievers, who have an un-informed conscience, that’s all they have to direct themselves, but nevertheless, he said, even they recognize good and evil, which is in itself a search for God.
The Pope did not equate a “search for God” to gaining Heaven, but pointed to the unlimited Mercy (Jesus) of God, who is unlimited.
The press ran with it in the opposite direction.