Catholic say on Salvation.

[Warrior4Truth]

I have heard often that there is no salvation outside of the Catholic Church. Would you mind explaining this to me. I do know already that early christians starting using the term catholic( universal) church so that they could be told apart from the heretical bodies. So I guess my ultimate questions is this, What does the Catholic Church say you have to do to be saved?
Hope to hear from you soon
In love:
Warrior4Truth.

 

[awalt]

That is not true. The Church and CCC teach that IF someone hears the teachings of the Church and in full knowledge rejects them, they will not be saved. Those that are not in that boat and are not Catholic may still be saved through the mercy of God, and through the grace that they have received in their own case (for example, they may have been a baptized Christian, and there is a certain amount of grace received for that). Those situations are up to God to decide of course, and we can never make a specific judgment about anyone, Catholic or not, because only God can see what is truly in their heart.

The Church teaches that the fullest revelation of God is through the teachings of the Catholic Church, hopefully the prior explanation helps for those outside the Church, which is less clear.

 

[cheddarsox]

The church also says that the only way anyone is saved is through some mystical union with the church. So the belief is that everyone who is saved, is saved by the church, even if they don’t know about it. The Catholic Church believes itself to be the means through which God works to save whomever is saved.

cheddar

 

[puzzleannie]

check out the CA homepage on this topic, one of the best articles I have ever seen. we also have lots of past threads, on this topic. The new (Dec) This Rock has a great article on this by Fr. Ray Ryland.

 

[John_Paul_III]

Warrior4Truth:

I have heard often that there is no salvation outside of the Catholic Church. Would you mind explaining this to me. I do know already that early christians starting using the term catholic( universal) church so that they could be told apart from the heretical bodies. So I guess my ultimate questions is this, What does the Catholic Church say you have to do to be saved?
Hope to hear from you soon
In love:
Warrior4Truth.

Catechism
183 Faith is necessary for salvation. The Lord himself affirms: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mk 16:16).

 

[John_Paul_III]

John Paul III:

Catechism
183 Faith is necessary for salvation. The Lord himself affirms: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mk 16:16).

“Outside the Church there is no salvation”

846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?335 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.336
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.337

848 "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men."338

 

[awalt]

Interestingly enough, Pope Benedict commented on this yesterday, per ZENIT:

Nonbelievers Too Can Be Saved, Says Pope
Refers to St. Augustine’s Commentary on Psalm 136(137)

VATICAN CITY, NOV. 30, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Whoever seeks peace and the good of the community with a pure conscience, and keeps alive the desire for the transcendent, will be saved even if he lacks biblical faith, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope made this affirmation today at the general audience, commenting on a meditation written by St. Augustine (354-430).

On a rainy morning in Rome, the Holy Father’s meditation, addressed to more than 23,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square, concentrated on the suffering of the Jewish people in the Babylonian exile, expressed dramatically in Psalm 136(137).

The Pontiff referred to Augustine’s commentary on this composition of the Jewish people, noting that this “Father of the Church introduces a surprising element of great timeliness.”

Augustine “knows that also among the inhabitants of Babylon there are people who are committed to peace and the good of the community, despite the fact that they do not share the biblical faith, that they do not know the hope of the Eternal City to which we aspire,” Benedict XVI stated.

“They have a spark of desire for the unknown, for the greatest, for the transcendent, for a genuine redemption,” explained the Pope, quoting Augustine.

This spark

“And he says that among the persecutors, among the nonbelievers, there are people with this spark, with a kind of faith, of hope, in the measure that is possible for them in the circumstances in which they live,” the Holy Father continued.

“With this faith in an unknown reality, they are really on the way to the authentic Jerusalem, to Christ,” he clarified.

Continuing with his quotes from Augustine, the Pope added that “God will not allow them to perish with Babylon, having predestined them to be citizens of Jerusalem, on the condition, however, that, living in Babylon, they do not seek pride, outdated pomp and arrogance.”

The Bishop of Rome concluded by inviting those present to pray to the Lord “that he will awaken in all of us this desire, this openness to God, and that those who do not know God may also be touched by his love, so that all of us journey together toward the definitive City and that the light of this City might also shine in our time and in our world.”