Well, if he did say “Sin, even for those who have no faith, exists when people disobey their conscience,” then he is dead wrong.
The conscience of the natural man is depraved and cannot be set as a benchmark for “sin.”
You’re absolutely correct concerning our sin nature. If the Pope is referring to a conscience of conviction and repentance through the work of the Holy Spirit, than this would be true. If not, he’s, as you stated, “dead wrong”.
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.