John the Baptist and Conscience Killing Church Annulments

by Debbie Nuzzo.
Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, August 29, 2025

As I thought about this gospel throughout today, St. John the Baptist being one of my favorite saints, I realized that this story is about conscience and that Herodias the adulterous wife of the adulterous King Herod Antipas wanted to bury her very guilty conscience by getting rid of the accuser of her sin who was John the Baptist.

How did it happen that these two adulterers “married?” While Herodias’ husband Philip was away in Rome, the two had an affair, left their spouses, and married. Sounds familiar. But we know that John the Baptist reminded them more than once of their terrible sin which is why Herod had him in prison. So even with John not being around, Herodias’ conscience bothered her. It did what God intended our conscience to do.

She thought she could get rid of the guilt of her adultery if only she could get rid of John and so asks for his head on a platter. This was in response to Herod’s promise to give Salome whatever she wanted. But you cannot kill the conscience. It still bothered Herodias as it was meant to do. Orthodox tradition says that she repeatedly stabbed St. John’s tongue with a needle as his head lay on the platter. Even after his death, she heard his words. Herod and Herodias’ lives did not end well. She could not silence her conscience, which always has the last word.

I could not help but compare this to the other attempt at conscience killing—Church annulments. It is really the bottom line and the top reason for so many thousands of Catholics running to the annulment mills to ease their troubled consciences after dishonoring their marriage vows to their true spouses and to God. It is and will always be a failed attempt to silence the John the Baptist’s of the world because no matter how hard one tries to bury the voice of God in our conscience by questionable annulment decisions from creative tribunal judges, God has the last Word.