Do you think Pope Francis would take a view more similar to yours? I am incredibly impressed by this man and it's hard for me to imagine that he would say I'm going to be damned for not being a Catholic.
Hello Katzpur
Pope Francis would certainly
not say that you are going to be damned simply for not being a Catholic. Our doctrine has been pretty clear on this point for centuries, such that even the most traditional voices in the Church have not held the view often touted by 'Fundamentalists' in the Bible Belt:
"...It is false that we say to anyone that he is damned. To do so would be false to our general doctrine relating to sects outside the bosom of the Church. We are persuaded that all of those who with sincerity remain in their errors, who through inculpable ignorance believe themselves in the way of salvation . . . are children of the Catholic Church. Such is the opinion of all divines from St. Augustine..."
- Nicolas-Sylvestre Bergier, (1715 – 1790), celebrated French Catholic theologian
As you can see, this is no 'new' teaching either. At Vatican II a group of "far-right", ultra-traditionalist Catholics rebelled against the modernization of the church under St. Pope John XXIII at that ecumenical council, led by a French priest called Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. He and his followers - known as the SSPX - were ultimately excommunicated from Holy Mother Church for repeatedly refusing to obey the Pope and accept the reforms of the council. Nevertheless, despite condemning so-called "innovations" in church doctrine (including ecumenism and interfaith outreach to other religions), Lefebvre and his cohort held to the traditional church doctrine on non-believers and salvation:
"...There are three ways of receiving baptism: the baptism of water; the baptism of blood (that of the martyrs who confessed the faith while still catechumens) and baptism of desire.
Baptism of desire can be explicit...The doctrine of the Church also recognizes implicit baptism of desire. This consists in doing the will of God. God knows all men and He knows that amongst Protestants, Muslims, Buddhists and in the whole of humanity there are men of good will. They receive the grace of baptism without knowing it, but in an effective way. In this way they become part of the Church..."
- (Archbishop Lefebvre, Open Letter to Confused Catholics)
Now, Lefebvre and the SSPX represent Catholicism at its most 'fringe' and 'far-right' extreme yet his views on salvation are far more 'liberal' than many Fundamentalists and traditional Protestants in general with their
sole fide take on the matter.
The Catholic dogma in this area is quite distinct. I would call it "exclusivist inclusivism". On the one hand, the Catholic Church
is the one true Church of Jesus Christ [
in our eyes that is], the vehicle and font of salvation for all humanity, the "
universal sacrament of communion" to use the language of ecclesiology. There can be no salvation outside of the Catholic Church. Yet this does not mean that everyone outside it (bodily) is "wrong" or "lost". On the contrary, there are many within the Church bodily who are not of her spiritually, while there are many outside her bodily who are within her spiritually:
"...How many sheep there are without, how many wolves within!...When we speak of within and without in relation to the Church, it is the position of the heart that we must consider, not that of the body.... All who are within in heart are saved in the unity of the ark..."
- Saint Augustine, Church Father (354–430 AD), Baptism 5:28:39
"...He was ours [a Christian] even before he was of our fold. His way of living made him such. For just as many of ours are not with us, whose life makes them other from our body [the Church], so many of those outside [the Church] belong to us, who by their way of life anticipate the faith and need only the name, having the reality..."
- St. Gregory of Nazianzus, <Oration> 18.5 (c. 374 AD)
"...The universality of salvation means that it is granted not only to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the Church. Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to all. But it is clear that today, as in the past, many people do not have an opportunity to come to know or accept the gospel revelation or to enter the Church. The social and cultural conditions in which they live do not permit this, and frequently they have been brought up in other religious traditions. For such people salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his Sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit. It enables each person to attain salvation through his or her free cooperation..."
- St. Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio (1990)
The official name for this doctrine is "baptism by implicit desire", in other words possessing a pure heart whereby one faithfully adheres to the dictates of their conscience and the will of God as far as they themselves, or their religion (if they have one) implores them and so attains to salvation:
"...But does the proposition that outside the Church there is no salvation involve the doctrine so often attributed to Catholicism, that the Catholic Church, in virtue of the principle, "condemns and must condemn all non-Catholics"? This is by no means the case. The foolish unchristian maxim that those who are outside the Church must for that very reason be eternally lost is no legitimate conclusion from Catholic dogma. The infliction of eternal damnation pertains not to the Church, but to God, Who alone can scrutinize the conscience. The task of the Church is confined exclusively to the formulating of the principle, which expresses a condition of salvation imposed by God Himself, and does not extend to the examination of the persons, who may or may not satisfy this condition. Care for one's own salvation is the personal concern of the individual. And in this matter the Church shows the greatest possible consideration for the good faith and the innocence of the erring person...She places the efficient cause of the eternal salvation of all men objectively in the merits of the Redeemer, and subjectively in justification through baptism or through good faith enlivened by the perfect love of God, both of which may be found outside the Catholic Church...The gentle breathing of grace is not confined within the walls of the Catholic Church, but reaches the hearts of many who stand afar, working in them the marvel of justification and thus ensuring the eternal salvation of numberless men who either, like upright Jews and pagans, do not know the true Church, or, like so many Protestants educated in gross prejudice, cannot appreciate her true nature. To all such, the Church does not close the gate of Heaven, although she insists that there are essential means of grace which are not within the reach of non-Catholics. In his allocution "Singulari quadam" of 9 December, 1854, which emphasized the dogma of the Church as necessary for salvation, Pius IX uttered the consoling principle: "Sed tamen pro certo...." (But it is likewise certain that those who are ignorant of the true religion, if their ignorance is invincible, are not, in this matter, guilty of any fault in the sight of God). (Denzinger n. 1647)
. . . As early as 1713 Clement XI condemned in his dogmatic Bull "Unigenitus" the proposition of the Jensenist Quesnel: . . . no grace is given outside the Church. . . just as Alexander VIII has already condemned in 1690 the Jansenistic proposition of Arnauld: . . . (Pagans, Jews, heretics, and other people of the sort, receive no influx [of grace] whatsoever from Jesus Christ). . . Catholics who are conversant with the teachings of their Church know how to draw the proper conclusions. . .The doctrine is summed up in the phrase, Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. This saying has been the occasion of so many objections that some consideration of its meaning seems desirable. It certainly does not mean that none can be saved except those who are in visible communion with the Church. The Catholic Church has ever taught that nothing else is needed to obtain justification than an act of perfect charity and of contrition. Whoever, under the impulse of actual grace, elicits these acts receives immediately the gift of sanctifying grace, and is numbered among the children of God. Should he die in these dispositions, he will assuredly attain heaven...”"
- The Catholic Encyclopedia (1910)
Vol. 14, TOLERATION
