Dear Scott:

I am surprised that you have heard contradictory answers to this question on EWTN. The answer to the question is rather straight-forward and easy.

The answer to your question is "yes", it is possible. The key to this question is the issue of "invincible ignorance." If a person is in "invincible ignorance" about the Gospel or about the Church through no fault of his own, then that person may perhaps still find salvation through God's grace if he is sincerely seeking God.

Here is the technical definition from the Catechism:

847 ..."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."

All persons are saved through Christ and his Church. Even unbelievers, should God choose to save them, will still do it through Christ and His Church, although we may not know exactly how God does this. We do know that God can do it.

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."

Here is the entire text of the passages in the Catechism referring to the relationship between the Church and non-Christians:

The Church and non-Christians

839 "Those who have not yet received the Gospel are related to the People of God in various ways."

The relationship of the Church with the Jewish People. When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People, "the first to hear the Word of God." The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God's revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews "belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ", "for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable."

840 And when one considers the future, God's People of the Old Covenant and the new People of God tend towards similar goals: expectation of the coming (or the return) of the Messiah. But one awaits the return of the Messiah who died and rose from the dead and is recognized as Lord and Son of God; the other awaits the coming of a Messiah, whose features remain hidden till the end of time; and the latter waiting is accompanied by the drama of not knowing or of misunderstanding Christ Jesus.

841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."

842 The Church's bond with non-Christian religions is in the first place the common origin and end of the human race:

All nations form but one community. This is so because all stem from the one stock which God created to people the entire earth, and also because all share a common destiny, namely God. His providence, evident goodness, and saving designs extend to all against the day when the elect are gathered together in the holy city. . .

843 The Catholic Church recognizes in other religions that search, among shadows and images, for the God who is unknown yet near since he gives life and breath and all things and wants all men to be saved. Thus, the Church considers all goodness and truth found in these religions as "a preparation for the Gospel and given by him who enlightens all men that they may at length have life."

844 In their religious behavior, however, men also display the limits and errors that disfigure the image of God in them:

Very often, deceived by the Evil One, men have become vain in their reasonings, and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and served the creature rather than the Creator. Or else, living and dying in this world without God, they are exposed to ultimate despair.

845 To reunite all his children, scattered and led astray by sin, the Father willed to call the whole of humanity together into his Son's Church. The Church is the place where humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation. The Church is "the world reconciled." She is that bark which "in the full sail of the Lord's cross, by the breath of the Holy Spirit, navigates safely in this world." According to another image dear to the Church Fathers, she is prefigured by Noah's ark, which alone saves from the flood.

Now with that as a background the question remains about the culpability of a person who has heard the Gospel but is still an unbeliever. Is such a person still in a state of "invincible ignorance"?

We cannot know. That judgment must be left to God.

What we can know from human experience is that a person can hear about something but not think about it or act upon it. Certainly for a person to be culpable he must experience more than just hearing about it, it must understand it, be convinced by it, and yet reject it.

Before I became Catholic I certainly have heard of the Catholic Church, I had read about Catholic teaching. Later I even understood much of Catholic teaching, but I had not been convinced by it. Once I was convinced THEN I became accountable. The day I was finally convinced I had no choice but to become Catholic since to fail to do so would have violated my conscience.

Mere "hearing" is not sufficient. There must be an understanding and a convincing of the conscience followed by a deliberate rejection of one's own conscience in order to be culpable. Feigned ignorance or lack of understanding increases culpability. Pretending to not be convinced when one has indeed recognized the truth increases culpability. But if a person hears, and even understands intellectually, but is genuinely and honestly not convinced in their conscience, then he might claim invincible ignorance.

Where those lines are drawn in a person we cannot know. Only God knows.

So the answer to your question, "Can a good person who hears the gospel of Jesus Christ, yet dies an unbeliever go to heaven?" is YES, it is possible if that person is genuinely in a state of invincible ignorance -- a condition that we cannot judge, only God can judge.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary