Believers will be saved

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Sophie

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Do we as Catholics still believe that there is no salvation ouside the Catholic Church, following the words of Jesus, “Believers will be saved and unbelievers will be condemned.”?
 
Hi Sophie,

The doctrine of the Church is that no one is saved who does not belong to the Church. But one can belong to the Church in different ways, as real members or as virtual members. Virtual members are those, non-Catholics, even pagans, who are so disposed that, if they were to know the full truth about the Catholic Church, they would join it. God knows the disposition of their hearts, and if their heart is in the right place, he saves them through the merits of Jesus Christ.

Here from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
**Outside the Church there is no salvation" **

846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:

Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.

847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:

Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.
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You can read the full text at

scborromeo.org/ccc/p123a9p3.htm#870

How do you react to this?

Verbum
 
Pope Benedict XVI has recently issued a new statement stating that other Christian Churches are either not true churches or are defective and only Catholocism provides the true path to salvation. This is one of the reasons I’m glad that I have left the Catholic Church. I was a cradle Catholic, went to Catholic schools, married in the church, had all of my children baptized in the church. I am now a Christian but not a Catholic. If we are to have true brotherhood with others then we must accept them. God knows if we are true followers of Him, no matter which building we go into to worship Him. We are all sinners but God can and will forgive us if we are truly sorry and repent. He does not require that we be Catholics but only that we follow Him. He is the true path to salvation!
 
Pigtown, so I guess Jesus was just joking when he said there is one truth.

Is that your opinion?
 
pigtown said:
Pope Benedict XVI has recently issued a new statement stating that other Christian Churches are either not true churches or are defective and only Catholocism provides the true path to salvation. This is one of the reasons I’m glad that I have left the Catholic Church. I was a cradle Catholic, went to Catholic schools, married in the church, had all of my children baptized in the church. I am now a Christian but not a Catholic. If we are to have true brotherhood with others then we must accept them. God knows if we are true followers of Him, no matter which building we go into to worship Him. We are all sinners but God can and will forgive us if we are truly sorry and repent. He does not require that we be Catholics but only that we follow Him. He is the true path to salvation!
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Jesus Christ is indeed the true path to salvation. However, it was His gift that some men be “pastors and teachers” so that His followers won’t be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. (Ephesians 4:11) Consequently, to be considered proper local Churches the local Christian communities should to be led by validly ordained bishops. (Acts 14:23; Philippians 1:1; Timothy 3:1-7) The Bible refers to Christian communities that lack validly ordained bishops as “defective.” (Titus 1:5) Without validly ordained bishops, these communities have at most only two valid sacraments (baptism and marriage) of the seven sacraments that Christ gave to His Church. Lacking the gifts that Christ intended (ordained bishops and seven sacraments), these Christian communities are deficient, incomplete, impoverished, and, like Apollos, have a less accurate understanding of the way of God than they should. (Acts 18:26)

You may think you have everything you need but unless you are in the Catholic Church you do not have everything Jesus Christ wants you to have.
 
Pigtown said,
“Pope Benedict XVI has recently issued a new statement stating that other Christian Churches are either not true churches or are defective and only Catholocism provides the true path to salvation.”

What statement is this, and where can I find it? I’d like to read it.
 
Ruthie:
I read the statement in the Daily Herald newspaper this morning, July 11, 2007.
 
“Father, I pray that they are ONE in me, as I am ONE in You”. Evidently, that doesn’t apply to one’s Religious Affiliation, eh?
 
Todd_Easton said:
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You may think you have everything you need but unless you are in the Catholic Church you do not have everything Jesus Christ wants you to have.
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You mean Jesus would want us to have beliefs in things like limbo?
 
Sophie said:
You mean Jesus would want us to have beliefs in things like limbo?
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Limbo has never been a Doctrine of the Church. It has only been a theory that some theologians have put forward.
The last I heard, most of us think it’s probably not an actuality, but we simply commend babies who died un-baptised to God’s mercy. He will do with them what is perfect.
 
Ruthie said:
Pigtown said,
“Pope Benedict XVI has recently issued a new statement stating that other Christian Churches are either not true churches or are defective and only Catholocism provides the true path to salvation.”

What statement is this, and where can I find it? I’d like to read it.
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There is a thread going on this one.
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=168238
And, it was not the Pope that made this statement, it was the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. But it was not any new teaching or anything, merely to clear up some questions about the truth of the teaching. Many media sources have skewed it so it looks like a bad thing.
 
Ilroy said:
Limbo has never been a Doctrine of the Church. It has only been a theory that some theologians have put forward.
The last I heard, most of us think it’s probably not an actuality, but we simply commend babies who died un-baptised to God’s mercy. He will do with them what is perfect.
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I don’t understand. Then why did the Church teach it as doctrine for many centuries?
 
A lot of teachings of any church are man-made and are not mentioned in the Bible as a teaching of Christ. Limbo is probably one of the man-made teachings.
 
water said:
Unfortunately, people would ask “What is One? One what”.
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one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
 
NotWorthy said:
What makes you say that the Church taught it as doctrine?
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I was taught to believe that Limbo was a real place, as many people were in Catholic school. Also, two of my grandparent’s babies who died unbaptised were buried in an unconsecrated section of a Catholic cemetery in the 1920’s because it was believed they were in Limbo instead of heaven, so they could not be buried in consecrated ground. That sounds very doctrinal to me!
 
Sophie said:
I was taught to believe that Limbo was a real place, as many people were in Catholic school. Also, two of my grandparent’s babies who died unbaptised were buried in an unconsecrated section of a Catholic cemetery in the 1920’s because it was believed they were in Limbo instead of heaven, so they could not be buried in consecrated ground. That sounds very doctrinal to me!
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I’m sorry, but it was not doctrine. It’s always been taught (when taught correctly) as a theory, from the way I understand it.
 
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