Aug 10 Mon
Is the Church necessary for salvation?
The Church has declared: “It must be firmly believed …that salvation… is offered and accomplished once for all in the mystery of the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son of God."
This unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude our participation. Just as Christ is the one and only mediator between God and humans, so also is the Church the one and universal means—sacrament—of salvation.
The Church, as a society in the present world, subsists in the Catholic Church. No man can be saved without belonging to her, either completely (as a full member) or at least in spirit (by his heartfelt attitude, that is, by a desire).
Our Lord had already said in Holy Scripture that, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” In sending the apostles around Galilee, He said to them: “And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.”
The Church is not merely a way of salvation; she is the only way. This is not a human opinion, but the express will of Christ. “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
“Outside the Catholic Church,” St. Augustine says, “you can find everything except salvation. You can have honor and sacraments; you can sing alleluia and respond amen. You can uphold the Gospel, have faith in the Father, in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, and preach that faith. But never, except in the Catholic Church, can you find salvation.”
Those not saved inside the Church can also attain salvation if they fulfill the natural law and obey God, but this is always by means of the Church.
But the Council was also very clear about this: “Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved.”
In the light of the documents already examined, the Church’s tradition can be summed up as follows:
- It is a dogma of faith that “the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation.”
- “They could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter her, or to remain in her.”
Yet the circumstances and capabilities of each individual should be borne in mind.
- One must have a desire or aspiration, not necessarily explicit, but it must be motivated by perfect charity, which implies an act of supernatural faith.
The texts of the Magisterium are insistent on two points:
- “There must be an effort to fulfill God’s will in deeds, by living an upright life.”
- But this cannot be achieved and have a saving effect except under the influence of grace.