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Pope Francis' statements Eric Thursday, September 12, 2013

Question:

I am quickly becoming confused with reports of Pope Francis' statements. Either the papers are misquoting or twisting his words, or he really is making these statements.

The latest statement that is making me scratch my head is that people who don't believe in God but follow their conscience can enter Heaven. Did he really say something like this? Is he being misquoted?

If he is being misunderstood and the wrong information is being spread all over then this is not good, because it will just cause confusion to the faithful.

If he really is saying that atheists and whoever else can just follow their conscience and they can get to Heaven, then what is going on? Why bother being Catholic then? Going to church? Taking the Sacrements, etc.?

I'm starting to get concerned about what is being reported about Pope Francis and what he is supposedly saying. Should I be worried?



Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r), CCL, LTh, DD, LNDC

Dear Eric:

Pope Francis has never at any time made any statement contrary to Catholic teaching. We all need to remember that the Press never, but never reports on the Pope or the Vatican accurately. It is best to never trust anything coming from the secular Press to be accurate. That is unfortunate and it does confuse people and even lead people astray, but that is to be expected from the world. Jesus said the world will hate us and persecute us. The best thing to do is to ignore the Press and check with sources that will give you the truth, like the Vatican Press, EWTN, LifeSiteNews, the Catholic Register, and, of course, these Q&A's Wink

The Church dogma that there is no salvation outside of the Catholic Church, but she also teaches that in some circumstances it is possible for non-believers to be saved. Here is the Catechism:

"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.

This exception does not apply to you or me. If we leave the Catholic Church under the delusion that our conscience is telling us to do that then our conscience is not informed and we will be risking our souls to hell, since abandoning the Catholic Church is grave sin. This is directly stated in the Catechism above, "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."

If a Protestant comes to be convinced that the Catholic Church is the Church that Jesus established and then refuses to come into full communion in the Church, he risks his soul to hell. That was the decision I had to make when, after 15 years as a Baptist minister, I had my eyes opened. It was a quick decision and I could not wait to talk to a priest about how to become Catholic. For me is was easy because I was seeking truth no matter where it lead me.

This exception apples only to those who "no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church." It applies to those in invincible ignorance, which includes those who know that the Church exists but have not yet been convinced of the truth of the Catholic Church (such as Protestants). Only God can know where those lines are drawn between invincible ignorance and culpability.

Ultimately, God can save whom He pleases. He is not bound by the Sacraments or by His Church. In His mercy He may save those those don't know any better because that is how they were raised, or because they had no opportunity, or whatever, when such person "seek(s) 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." Such mercy shows the greatness of our God.

Nevertheless, we still are to evangelize. While it is remotely possible for a non-believers to be saved, the surest way to salvation is by joining the Catholic Church. In addition, Christ wants all people to come into His Church, His Bride, and has commanded us to go out and preach the Gospel to all nations. In addition, within His Church there are graces that are not available to those outside Her. Thus, those saved in this extraordinary way miss out on much that our Lord wants to give his children. 

By the way, when people are saved in this extraordinary way, they are still saved through Christ and His Church, even though those people do not know it.  The Church says that we do not know exactly how Christ does this, but we know that He does. Thus, the dogma of No Salvation Outside the Catholic Church is still fulfilled with these non-believers. The exception, therefore, is not with the dogma, but with the way, the method, in which people are saved through Church.

Those who have asserted that one must be a "card-carrying" Catholic to go to heaven are in heresy. Father Feeney, in the 1940s, was excommunicated over this issue.

Bottomline: God is a loving and merciful God who does not want anyone to perish. Thus, in His mercy, He considers the person and their conscience and may save them even though they have never heard of Christ and His Church, or those who have honestly never been convinced through no fault of their own. A Great and Loving God we have.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary


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