In the Catholic moral tradition, what is expected of the person is that he inform and follow conscience; the person becomes morally perfected by responding to his God-given desire for the real and the good. A criminal law shaped by Catholic principles, therefore, would sanction the criminalization not only of (some) intentional wrongs but also of (some) negligent wrongs; it would understand negligence, however, as the person's failure to do his personal best to seek the real and the good. A Catholic criminal law would not purport to demand virtue; it would both call for and respect an individual's conscientious, diligent quest for the good.
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