Patrick Carroll died in 2012 and his will stated that, in order to inherit, his adult children must attend his funeral and become Catholic within three months of his death.

His children did attend the funeral, but remain active Jehovah's Witnesses.

In the New South Wales Supreme Court earlier this month, Justice Francois Junc ruled Mr Carroll was entitled to have these conditions in his will.

The court heard that Mr Carroll never approved of his children becoming Jehovah's Witness.

His will was not so much about his own beliefs, but was rather about his long standing objection to his children being Jehovah's Witnesses.

He did not raise them as Catholics, and neither he nor they had attended church services when they were young and he did not enrol them in Catholic schools.

But when he split from their mother in 1959, she became a Jehovah's Witness and over the next decade the couple's four children, Robyn, Paulene, Anthony and Susan, were baptised as Jehovah's Witnesses.

His will was written four months before he died, in late 2011.

It was challenged on the basis that its stipulations were uncertain, but Justice Junc rejected this.

The requirements, especially the one that the children be baptised into the Catholic Church, were "not uncertain", the judge ruled.

Mr Carroll's children also argued that the conditions he set were legally impossible and contrary to public policy.

But these grounds also failed.

If the four children had met the stipulated conditions in the will, they would have inherited just over one third of Mr Carroll's estate.

But Justice Junc ordered that this share be divided among the 13 other beneficiaries of Mr Carroll's will, in accordance with its specific instructions.

Sources

• Sydney Morning Herald
• Sunday Telegraph
• Image: The Obamacrat

He gave the example of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, as a model of attention to the voice of one's conscience.

"When the Lord had made it clear, in prayer, what was the step he had to take, he followed, with a great sense of discernment and courage, his conscience, that is the will of God speaking to his heart," Pope Francis said.

The Pope said Jesus wants neither selfish Christians, who follow their egos and do not speak with God, nor weak and "remote-controlled" Christians, who have no will and are incapable of creativity, "who seek ever to connect with the will of another, and are not free".

"Jesus wants us free, and this freedom — where is it found? It is to be found in the inner dialogue with God in conscience.

"If a Christian does not know how to talk with God, does not know how to listen to God, in his own conscience, then he is not free — he is not free.

"So we also must learn to listen more to our conscience. Be careful, however: this does not mean we ought to follow our ego, do whatever interests us, whatever suits us, whatever pleases us. That is not conscience.

"Conscience is the interior space in which we can listen to and hear the truth, the good, the voice of God. It is the inner place of our relationship with him, who speaks to our heart and helps us to discern, to understand the path we ought to take, and once the decision is made, to move forward, to remain faithful."

Sources:

Vatican Radio

AsiaNews

Image: Pope of Hearts

The donation in the Italian man's will includes a majority stake in his company, news reports said yesterday.

"We will continue the work of our benefactor in the interests of FAAC and its employees," Andrea Moschetti, the lawyer appointed by the Church to manage its assets, was quoted as saying by business daily Il Sole 24 Ore.

Moschetti also ruled out selling the Roman Catholic Church's stake to a group of French minority shareholders who hold 34 per cent of the company.