What happens to those who don't know Christ?

[Riley259]

There are so many non-Christians in the world including approx. 1 billion Muslims. Most of those people don’t know Christ or if they do it’s a distorted view. What happens to all those people who either haven’t heard the Good News or haven’t had adequate access to it due to famial and cultural influences beyond their control. How do we know who’s saved in this situation and by what criteria are they judged to be saved or not? These are very vexing questions. Can someone logically explain how to reconcile them?

 

[Della]

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?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

It’s always best to get information from the authorized source on issues like this one.

 

[MariaG]

Riley259:

There are so many non-Christians in the world including approx. 1 billion Muslims. Most of those people don’t know Christ or if they do it’s a distorted view. What happens to all those people who either haven’t heard the Good News or haven’t had adequate access to it due to famial and cultural influences beyond their control. How do we know who’s saved in this situation and by what criteria are they judged to be saved or not? These are very vexing questions. Can someone logically explain how to reconcile them?

I could not find the reference, although I know it is in the Catechism. Ahh, I see Della posted it already!

The Church teaches that for those who have not heard of Christ, they still MAY be saved. For although God has shown us the path of salvation through Christ and the Sacraments, God Himself is not limited to them.

God Bless,
Maria