Poll for Catholics

[rcwitness]

The problem people have with this teaching is understanding it in a modern (hence almost assuredly false) reductive sense than in the proper, classical sense of fulfillment. That is people try to understand “salvation” by cutting away what is inessential and arriving at an “essential” core. This is the equivalent of saying that, since I am a man and would still be a man even if I have no arms, arms are not essential to me so I may as well cut them off. That’s nonsense. In a strict, minimalistic sense, it is possible to be saved without being a member of the visible, institutional Church, but it does not follow that such membership is therefore irrelevant to salvation.

It is not the case that anyone not in the Church is doomed, but rather that, if you want to think of it probabilistically, as you get “closer” to salvation, you are drawn deeper into the life of the Church. A virtuous pagan on a desert island may be saved, but the archetype of the saved person is the Catholic saint who lived a life of heroic virtue and perhaps died a martyr.

great explanation

 

[tabycat]

All who will be saved, will be saved through the Church, whether they know it now or not.

That is why I voted ‘yes’, because in Heaven everyone will be Catholic no matter what religion (or none) they had on this side.

 

[JReducation]

Not a fair question, because the statement by the Council of Florence must be taken in context and one has to look at how the Church has unpacked it through the centuries. It’s not a black and white like that and the Council did not mean it to be. Every pope and council since Florence has known this.

You would have to attach a copy of the CCC’s explanation of EENS for people to make a valid choice. Otherwise, it’s a setup.

 

[sw85]

great explanation

You’re very welcome!

That is why I voted ‘yes’, because in Heaven everyone will be Catholic no matter what religion (or none) they had on this side.

This is key. Even in a case where a saved person is not a member of the visible, institutional Church, even where perhaps they do not hear of it their whole lives, it is still the case that their salvation, while coming from God, is mediated by the Church in mysterious and invisible ways.