Question Title | Posted By | Question Date |
---|---|---|
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. |
||
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 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:
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, Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below: Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum. Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum
|