53. The Church as Sacrament
13. The Church, Sacrament of Salvation
The Church’s universal mission is born from the command of Jesus Christ, and is fulfilled in the course of the centuries in the proclamation of the mystery of God and the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son, as saving event for all humanity. The Church is what God wanted her to be: the people of God the Father, the Mystical Body of God the Son, and the temple of God the Holy Spirit. In this chapter, we will examine the concept of “sacrament of salvation,” which explains some aspects of the nature of the Church. She is the visible sign of the invisible reality of God’s salvation.
The Greek word mysterion is translated into Latin by two terms: mysterium and sacramentum. The term sacramentum better outlines the Church as the visible sign; the term mysterium better outlines the occult reality of salvation. In this sense, Christ is himself the “mystery” of salvation.1
St Paul calls the union of Christ with the Church “a great mystery” (Eph 5:32). The Church joins Christ, her spouse, as the bride. Thus, she becomes a mystery (cf. Eph 3:9–11). Christ, our salvation, acts through the seven sacraments of his Church. These are the signs and instruments of the Holy Spirit to distribute the grace of Christ (the head) onto the Church (his Mystical Body). Thus, the Church contains and distributes the grace that she signifies. In this analogical sense, the Church is called “a sacrament.”2 Christ instituted his Church as the universal sacrament of salvation. Through her, he joins all people closer to himself. Nourishing them with his own body and blood, he makes them partakers of his glorious life.3
13a) The Church is an Invisible and Visible Communion
The Church is both invisible and visible at the same time. As an invisible reality, the Church is the communion of each human being with the Father through Christ in the Holy Spirit, and with the others, who equally share in the:
· divine nature (cf. 2 Pt 1:4),
· Passion of Christ (cf. 2 Cor 1:7),
· same faith (cf. Eph 4:13; Phlm 6), and
· same spirit (cf. Phil 2:1).
The Church on earth is also a visible reality, a visible communion of faithful who converge in the:
· teaching of the apostles,
· sacraments, and
· hierarchical order.4
The Church is a communion of divine life and, at the same time, the visible means or institution of salvation.
Just as Christ is one in two natures, the Church is also one single reality with a dual composition. She is “essentially both human and divine, visible but endowed with invisible realities … present in the world, but as a pilgrim, so constituted that in her the human is directed toward and subordinated to the divine, the visible to the invisible … and this present world to that city yet to come, the object of our quest.”5
The visible and social organization of the Church is due to a free disposition of Christ. Its context is the continuation of the Incarnation of the Word, an Incarnation that is the culmination of the covenant between God and man. This social organization of the Church is in line with man’s nature and deepest needs as a social being that is essentially dependent on others.
This is the perspective in which we must understand the sacraments and the formation of the hierarchy—a structural feature of the institutional Church that enables mankind to hear God when listening to people, and to speak to God in speaking to a person.6 Thus, by analogy with the Incarnate Word—God and Man—the Church is said to be a general sacrament of salvation.
13b) The Church and the Sacraments
All in the Church concur in the same visible realities: the teaching of the apostles, the sacraments, and the hierarchy. By means of these divine gifts, Christ carries out (in different ways in history) his prophetic, priestly, and kingly functions for the salvation of mankind.7 This link between the invisible and visible elements of ecclesial communion constitutes the Church as the sacrament of salvation. The sacraments are visible realities made effective signs of his gifts of salvation by the will of Christ. The Church is, as it were, a more universal and comprehensive sacrament.
Each individual is introduced into the ecclesial communion by faith and Baptism (cf. Eph 4:4–5; Mk 16:16). Baptism is the incorporation into a body—the Church—that the risen Lord builds up and keeps alive through the Eucharist. Thus, this body can truly be called the body of Christ.
The Eucharist—the root and center of the community—is the creative force and source of communion among the members of the Church. It unites each one of them with Christ himself: “Really sharing in the body of the Lord in the breaking of the eucharistic bread, we are taken up into communion with him and with one another. ‘Because the bread is one, we, though many, are one body, all of us who partake of the one bread’ (1 Cor 10:17).”8 The Eucharist is the sacrament “through which in the present age the Church is made.”9 “When we share in the body and blood of Christ we become what we receive.”10
By giving us his body, the Lord transforms us into one body: the Church.11 Hence, St. Paul’s expression “the Church is the body of Christ” means that the Church expresses herself principally in the Eucharist. While present everywhere, the Church is one, just as Christ is one.12
By the Sacrament of Confirmation, the Holy Spirit sends the gift of the Holy Spirit to each person in the Church. By the Sacrament of Penance, priests reconcile sinners with God and the Church. By the Anointing of the Sick, the Church continues Christ’s healing mission for those who are seriously ill, and accompanies them in the last battle. Holy Orders configures the priests to Christ the priest, thus they act within the Church as Christ, administer the sacraments, and build up the community of faith. Marriage symbolizes the union of Christ and his Church, which is the fruit of the Eucharist. New members are added to the Church through this sacrament.
14. Necessity of the Church for Salvation
It must be firmly believed as a truth of Catholic faith that the universal salvific will of the One and Triune God is offered and accomplished once for all in the mystery of the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son of God.13
This unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude a manifold cooperation (which is but a participation) in this one source, but rather gives rise to it. Just as Christ is the one and only mediator between God and humans, so also is the Church the one and universal means—sacrament—of salvation. As we will see in the next chapter, this Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and the bishops in communion with him. No man can be saved without belonging to her, either completely (as a full member) or at least in spirit (by his heartfelt attitude, that is, by a desire implying perfect charity and, therefore, at least an implicit supernatural faith).
The ordinary and universal Magisterium of the Church teaches as a truth of faith that membership in the Church is necessary for salvation. Several solemn declarations confirm this truth.14
There are many religious traditions in the world. “The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions. She has a high regard for the manner of life and conduct, the precepts and doctrines, which, although differing in many ways from her own teaching, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men.”15
The need to belong to the Church for salvation is thus a truth of faith: “Outside the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church none can be saved, just as none were saved from the flood outside the Ark of Noah, which was a figure of this Church.”16 “No one remaining outside the Catholic Church … can become partakers of eternal life; but they will go to the ‘everlasting fire that was prepared for the devil and his angels,’ unless before the end of life they are joined to the Church.”17 This is the very same teaching of the Second Vatican Council, which, on the basis of Scripture and Tradition stated that “the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation.”18
Our Lord had already said in Holy Scripture that, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:5). In sending the apostles around Galilee, he said to them: “And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town” (Mt 10:14–15).
The fervor of the early Christians in living Christ’s command to preach and baptize is shown in the Acts of the Apostles. They were encouraged by the awareness of being harbingers of the message of salvation. Apart from Christ, St. Peter tells the elders and scribes of Jerusalem that “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
We cannot forget that the Church is not merely a way of salvation; she is the only way. This is not a human opinion, but the express will of Christ. “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” That is why we affirm that the Church is a necessary means of salvation.… “There is no salvation outside the Church”--Extra Ecclesiam, nulla salus. That is the continual warning of the Fathers.19
“Outside the Catholic Church,” St. Augustine says, “you can find everything except salvation. You can have honor and sacraments; you can sing alleluia and respond amen. You can uphold the Gospel, have faith in the Father, in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, and preach that faith. But never, except in the Catholic Church, can you find salvation.”20
Salvation always passes through Christ and his Church. The Church, being a mystery, goes beyond her visible structure and organization. Thus, those who are outside the visible boundaries of the Church can also attain salvation if they fulfill the natural law and obey God; still, this is always by means of the Church. For, together with the above-mentioned teaching, the Church has always taught that God doesn’t deny anyone the means to obtain supernatural and eternal happiness: “Those who are afflicted with invincible ignorance with regard to our holy religion, if they carefully keep the precepts of the natural law that have been written by God in the hearts of all men, if they are prepared to obey God, and if they lead a virtuous and dutiful life, can attain eternal life by the power of divine light and grace.”21
Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or the 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—these too may achieve eternal salvation.22
God alone knows what goes on in the heart of each man, and he does not deal with souls en masse, but one by one. No one on this earth can judge about the eternal salvation or condemnation of any individual.23
It is good to remember that, in spite of the shades of indifferentism, “all men are bound to seek the truth, especially in what concerns God and his Church, and to embrace it and hold on to it as they come to know it.”24 This means that it is not enough to have a general good will. There must also be a sincere and constant effort to seek the truth with the help and light of grace.
Membership in the Church necessarily requires Baptism, belief in and profession of Christ’s teaching, reception of the same sacraments, and recognition of the pope and the other legitimate pastors of the Church. Baptism of desire is an act of perfect love of God or perfect contrition accompanied by an at least implicit desire for Baptism. The Church’s Magisterium specifies that not “any desire whatsoever of entering the Church is sufficient for a man to be saved. It is necessary that the desire by which a man is related to the Church be informed with perfect charity. And an implicit desire cannot have its effect unless a man has supernatural faith.”25
It is a matter of faith that anyone who does not belong to the Church will not be saved, and that anyone who is not baptized does not enter the Church. Justification “cannot take place after the promulgation of the Gospel, without the water of regeneration or its desire,” the Council of Trent established. This is an ongoing demand of the Church that on the one hand stimulates us to greater apostolic zeal and on the other manifests clearly the infinite mercy of God with his creatures.26
In the light of the documents already examined, the Church’s tradition can be summed up as follows:
· It is a dogma of faith that “the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation.”27
· “They could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter her, or to remain in her.”28
· In applying this principle to individuals, their circumstances and capabilities should be borne in mind.
· It is always required to have a desire or aspiration, not necessarily explicit, but in any event, it must be motivated by perfect charity, which implies an act of supernatural faith.29
The texts of the Magisterium are insistent on two points:
i) They refer to the overall direction of one’s life: “there must be an effort to fulfill God’s will in deeds”; “there must be an effort to live an upright life.”
ii) But this cannot be achieved and have a saving effect except under the influence of grace.
15. The Church’s Universal Mediation
We will see now the specific ways in which salvation is achieved through the Church. Thus, we will understand that nobody is saved without the Church (the Church’s universal mediation), nor outside the Church (there are different degrees of membership in the Church).
Since the Church is the universal sacrament of salvation in the world, all graces come through her and all graces are directed toward her.30 However, we should clarify that in Christ, the qualities of Mediator and of head or principle of grace are exactly identical. The Church, on the other hand, is only a channel, but not a principle of grace: She only administers the grace.
The Church’s mediation is carried out through:
· the power of the sacraments and especially the Eucharist, and
· the power of other prayers and sacrifices offered by the Church in relation to the dogma of the communion of saints.
At the same time, all graces are directed toward the Church. That is, they necessarily draw the recipient to a closer and deeper membership in the Church.
16. Degrees of Membership
Each person is admitted into the Church through faith and Baptism. With regard to membership, the following broad principles should be taken into account:
Full incorporation in the Church is for those who:
· are united to the Church by the triple bond of sacraments, teaching, and government; and
· possess the invisible reality of sanctifying grace.
Those who have this triple bond but who have lost charity—that is, those bereft of sanctifying grace as a consequence of mortal sin—belong to the Church “in their bodies,” but not “in their hearts.”
Those catechumens who, moved by the Holy Spirit, expressly request full admittance to the Church are linked to her by this very desire, and our Mother the Church embraces them with love and care.
16a) Ecumenism
There is only one true, universal (i.e., Catholic) Church. The Church is ecumenical because she incorporates in her community all people, whatever their nationality, race, or condition. The faithful enjoy full membership, but there are some who—without being united to the Church—are somehow related to her, with different degrees of closeness.31 We can distinguish among the following groups:
· The faithful
· Non-Catholic Christians
· Non-Christians
16b) The Christian Faithful
The Christian faithful enjoys a full incorporation or membership in the strict sense, which implies profession of the same faith, acceptance of all the sacraments, and communion with the ecclesial hierarchy.32
16c) Non-Catholic Christians
Non-Catholic Christians are “these who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in some, though imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church.”33
The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but who do not, however, profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter.… The Spirit stirs up desires and actions in all of Christ’s disciples in order that all may be peaceably united, as Christ ordained, in one flock under one shepherd. Mother Church never ceases to pray, hope, and work that this may be achieved, and she exhorts her children to purification and renewal so that the sign of Christ may shine more brightly over the face of the Church.34
Among these communities, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, though separated from the See of Peter, retain apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist. These Churches, which (while not existing in perfect communion with the Catholic Church) remain united to her by means of the closest bonds—that is, by apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist—are true particular Churches.35
However, communion with the universal Church, represented by Peter’s successor, is not an external requirement, but one of the internal constituents of a particular church. Thus, the existence of these communities as particular churches is wounded. They are not part of the Catholic Church.
The rift is even deeper in those ecclesial communities that have not retained the apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist (the Protestants). They are not churches in the proper sense.
This situation calls for an ecumenical commitment on the part of everyone to achieve full communion in the unity of the Church, that unity “which Christ bestowed on his Church from the beginning. We believe that this unity subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time.”36 In this ecumenical commitment, prayer, penance, study, dialogue, and collaboration are important priorities. Thus, through a new conversion to the Lord, all may be able to recognize the continuity of the primacy of Peter in his successors, the Bishops of Rome, and to see the Petrine ministry fulfilled in the manner intended by our Lord.37
16d) Non-Christians
Non-Christians are those who, not having yet received the Gospel, are somehow “related to the People of God.… Whatever good or truth is found amongst them is considered by the Church to be a preparation for the Gospel, and given by him who enlightens all men that they may at length have life.”38
Among these, the Church—the people of God in the New Covenant—acknowledges her spiritual ties with the Jewish people, the first to hear the word of God.
The Church also has a high regard for the Muslims. They worship God, who is One, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men.39
Footnotes:
1. Cf. St. Augustine, Ep., 187.34.
2. Cf. CCC, 772–776.
3. Cf. LG, 48.
4. Cf. J. Card. Ratzinger, L’Osservatore Romano, June15, 1992.
5. SC, 2; cf. LG, 8; CCC, 771.
6. Cf. P. Faynel, L’Eglise, 1, p. 288ff.
7. Cf. LG, 25–27; CCC, 774, 2014.
8. LG, 7.
9. St. Augustine, Contra Faustum, 12.20.
10. St. Leo the Great, Sermo 63.7.
11. Cf. St. John Chrysostom, In 1 Cor. Hom., 24.2; cf. LG, 3, 11.
12. Cf. J. Card. Ratzinger, L’Osservatore Romano, June 15, 1992.
13. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Decl. Dominus Iesus, 14, Aug. 6, 2000.
14. Cf. DS 702, 802, 870, 1051, 1351, 2540, 2865, 3304, 3802–08, 3866–72; LG, 14; CCC, 846–848; Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Decl. Dominus Iesus, Aug. 6, 2000.
15. NA, 2; cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Decl. Dominus Iesus, 2, Aug. 6, 2000.
16. Roman Catechism, 170.
17. DS 1351.
18. LG, 14.
19. St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Supernatural Aim of the Church, pp. 9‑10.
20. St. Augustine, Sermo ad Caesariensis Ecclesiae Plebem, 6: PL 43, 456.
21. DS 2866.
22. LG, 16; cf. DS 3869–72.
23. St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Supernatural Aim of the Church, p. 12.
24. DH, 1.
25. DS 3872.
26. St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Supernatural Aim of the Church, p. 11; cf. DS 1524.
27. LG, 14.
28. Ibid.
29. Cf. DS 3872.
30. Cf. CCC, 824, 830.
31. Cf. LG, 15–16; UR, 3–4; CCC, 817–822, 836.
32. Cf. CCC, 837.
33. UR, 3.
34. LG, 15.
35. Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Decl. Dominus Iesus, 17, Aug. 6, 2000.
36. UR, 4.
37. Cf. Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of the Church Understood as Communion, 17, May 28, 1992; cf. CCC, 838.
38. LG, 16.
39. Cf. CCC, 839–845.
The Church’s universal mission is born from the command of Jesus Christ, and is fulfilled in the course of the centuries in the proclamation of the mystery of God and the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son, as saving event for all humanity. The Church is what God wanted her to be: the people of God the Father, the Mystical Body of God the Son, and the temple of God the Holy Spirit. In this chapter, we will examine the concept of “sacrament of salvation,” which explains some aspects of the nature of the Church. She is the visible sign of the invisible reality of God’s salvation.
The Greek word mysterion is translated into Latin by two terms: mysterium and sacramentum. The term sacramentum better outlines the Church as the visible sign; the term mysterium better outlines the occult reality of salvation. In this sense, Christ is himself the “mystery” of salvation.1
St Paul calls the union of Christ with the Church “a great mystery” (Eph 5:32). The Church joins Christ, her spouse, as the bride. Thus, she becomes a mystery (cf. Eph 3:9–11). Christ, our salvation, acts through the seven sacraments of his Church. These are the signs and instruments of the Holy Spirit to distribute the grace of Christ (the head) onto the Church (his Mystical Body). Thus, the Church contains and distributes the grace that she signifies. In this analogical sense, the Church is called “a sacrament.”2 Christ instituted his Church as the universal sacrament of salvation. Through her, he joins all people closer to himself. Nourishing them with his own body and blood, he makes them partakers of his glorious life.3
13a) The Church is an Invisible and Visible Communion
The Church is both invisible and visible at the same time. As an invisible reality, the Church is the communion of each human being with the Father through Christ in the Holy Spirit, and with the others, who equally share in the:
· divine nature (cf. 2 Pt 1:4),
· Passion of Christ (cf. 2 Cor 1:7),
· same faith (cf. Eph 4:13; Phlm 6), and
· same spirit (cf. Phil 2:1).
The Church on earth is also a visible reality, a visible communion of faithful who converge in the:
· teaching of the apostles,
· sacraments, and
· hierarchical order.4
The Church is a communion of divine life and, at the same time, the visible means or institution of salvation.
Just as Christ is one in two natures, the Church is also one single reality with a dual composition. She is “essentially both human and divine, visible but endowed with invisible realities … present in the world, but as a pilgrim, so constituted that in her the human is directed toward and subordinated to the divine, the visible to the invisible … and this present world to that city yet to come, the object of our quest.”5
The visible and social organization of the Church is due to a free disposition of Christ. Its context is the continuation of the Incarnation of the Word, an Incarnation that is the culmination of the covenant between God and man. This social organization of the Church is in line with man’s nature and deepest needs as a social being that is essentially dependent on others.
This is the perspective in which we must understand the sacraments and the formation of the hierarchy—a structural feature of the institutional Church that enables mankind to hear God when listening to people, and to speak to God in speaking to a person.6 Thus, by analogy with the Incarnate Word—God and Man—the Church is said to be a general sacrament of salvation.
13b) The Church and the Sacraments
All in the Church concur in the same visible realities: the teaching of the apostles, the sacraments, and the hierarchy. By means of these divine gifts, Christ carries out (in different ways in history) his prophetic, priestly, and kingly functions for the salvation of mankind.7 This link between the invisible and visible elements of ecclesial communion constitutes the Church as the sacrament of salvation. The sacraments are visible realities made effective signs of his gifts of salvation by the will of Christ. The Church is, as it were, a more universal and comprehensive sacrament.
Each individual is introduced into the ecclesial communion by faith and Baptism (cf. Eph 4:4–5; Mk 16:16). Baptism is the incorporation into a body—the Church—that the risen Lord builds up and keeps alive through the Eucharist. Thus, this body can truly be called the body of Christ.
The Eucharist—the root and center of the community—is the creative force and source of communion among the members of the Church. It unites each one of them with Christ himself: “Really sharing in the body of the Lord in the breaking of the eucharistic bread, we are taken up into communion with him and with one another. ‘Because the bread is one, we, though many, are one body, all of us who partake of the one bread’ (1 Cor 10:17).”8 The Eucharist is the sacrament “through which in the present age the Church is made.”9 “When we share in the body and blood of Christ we become what we receive.”10
By giving us his body, the Lord transforms us into one body: the Church.11 Hence, St. Paul’s expression “the Church is the body of Christ” means that the Church expresses herself principally in the Eucharist. While present everywhere, the Church is one, just as Christ is one.12
By the Sacrament of Confirmation, the Holy Spirit sends the gift of the Holy Spirit to each person in the Church. By the Sacrament of Penance, priests reconcile sinners with God and the Church. By the Anointing of the Sick, the Church continues Christ’s healing mission for those who are seriously ill, and accompanies them in the last battle. Holy Orders configures the priests to Christ the priest, thus they act within the Church as Christ, administer the sacraments, and build up the community of faith. Marriage symbolizes the union of Christ and his Church, which is the fruit of the Eucharist. New members are added to the Church through this sacrament.
14. Necessity of the Church for Salvation
It must be firmly believed as a truth of Catholic faith that the universal salvific will of the One and Triune God is offered and accomplished once for all in the mystery of the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son of God.13
This unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude a manifold cooperation (which is but a participation) in this one source, but rather gives rise to it. Just as Christ is the one and only mediator between God and humans, so also is the Church the one and universal means—sacrament—of salvation. As we will see in the next chapter, this Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and the bishops in communion with him. No man can be saved without belonging to her, either completely (as a full member) or at least in spirit (by his heartfelt attitude, that is, by a desire implying perfect charity and, therefore, at least an implicit supernatural faith).
The ordinary and universal Magisterium of the Church teaches as a truth of faith that membership in the Church is necessary for salvation. Several solemn declarations confirm this truth.14
There are many religious traditions in the world. “The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions. She has a high regard for the manner of life and conduct, the precepts and doctrines, which, although differing in many ways from her own teaching, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men.”15
The need to belong to the Church for salvation is thus a truth of faith: “Outside the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church none can be saved, just as none were saved from the flood outside the Ark of Noah, which was a figure of this Church.”16 “No one remaining outside the Catholic Church … can become partakers of eternal life; but they will go to the ‘everlasting fire that was prepared for the devil and his angels,’ unless before the end of life they are joined to the Church.”17 This is the very same teaching of the Second Vatican Council, which, on the basis of Scripture and Tradition stated that “the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation.”18
Our Lord had already said in Holy Scripture that, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:5). In sending the apostles around Galilee, he said to them: “And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town” (Mt 10:14–15).
The fervor of the early Christians in living Christ’s command to preach and baptize is shown in the Acts of the Apostles. They were encouraged by the awareness of being harbingers of the message of salvation. Apart from Christ, St. Peter tells the elders and scribes of Jerusalem that “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
We cannot forget that the Church is not merely a way of salvation; she is the only way. This is not a human opinion, but the express will of Christ. “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” That is why we affirm that the Church is a necessary means of salvation.… “There is no salvation outside the Church”--Extra Ecclesiam, nulla salus. That is the continual warning of the Fathers.19
“Outside the Catholic Church,” St. Augustine says, “you can find everything except salvation. You can have honor and sacraments; you can sing alleluia and respond amen. You can uphold the Gospel, have faith in the Father, in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, and preach that faith. But never, except in the Catholic Church, can you find salvation.”20
Salvation always passes through Christ and his Church. The Church, being a mystery, goes beyond her visible structure and organization. Thus, those who are outside the visible boundaries of the Church can also attain salvation if they fulfill the natural law and obey God; still, this is always by means of the Church. For, together with the above-mentioned teaching, the Church has always taught that God doesn’t deny anyone the means to obtain supernatural and eternal happiness: “Those who are afflicted with invincible ignorance with regard to our holy religion, if they carefully keep the precepts of the natural law that have been written by God in the hearts of all men, if they are prepared to obey God, and if they lead a virtuous and dutiful life, can attain eternal life by the power of divine light and grace.”21
Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or the 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—these too may achieve eternal salvation.22
God alone knows what goes on in the heart of each man, and he does not deal with souls en masse, but one by one. No one on this earth can judge about the eternal salvation or condemnation of any individual.23
It is good to remember that, in spite of the shades of indifferentism, “all men are bound to seek the truth, especially in what concerns God and his Church, and to embrace it and hold on to it as they come to know it.”24 This means that it is not enough to have a general good will. There must also be a sincere and constant effort to seek the truth with the help and light of grace.
Membership in the Church necessarily requires Baptism, belief in and profession of Christ’s teaching, reception of the same sacraments, and recognition of the pope and the other legitimate pastors of the Church. Baptism of desire is an act of perfect love of God or perfect contrition accompanied by an at least implicit desire for Baptism. The Church’s Magisterium specifies that not “any desire whatsoever of entering the Church is sufficient for a man to be saved. It is necessary that the desire by which a man is related to the Church be informed with perfect charity. And an implicit desire cannot have its effect unless a man has supernatural faith.”25
It is a matter of faith that anyone who does not belong to the Church will not be saved, and that anyone who is not baptized does not enter the Church. Justification “cannot take place after the promulgation of the Gospel, without the water of regeneration or its desire,” the Council of Trent established. This is an ongoing demand of the Church that on the one hand stimulates us to greater apostolic zeal and on the other manifests clearly the infinite mercy of God with his creatures.26
In the light of the documents already examined, the Church’s tradition can be summed up as follows:
· It is a dogma of faith that “the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation.”27
· “They could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter her, or to remain in her.”28
· In applying this principle to individuals, their circumstances and capabilities should be borne in mind.
· It is always required to have a desire or aspiration, not necessarily explicit, but in any event, it must be motivated by perfect charity, which implies an act of supernatural faith.29
The texts of the Magisterium are insistent on two points:
i) They refer to the overall direction of one’s life: “there must be an effort to fulfill God’s will in deeds”; “there must be an effort to live an upright life.”
ii) But this cannot be achieved and have a saving effect except under the influence of grace.
15. The Church’s Universal Mediation
We will see now the specific ways in which salvation is achieved through the Church. Thus, we will understand that nobody is saved without the Church (the Church’s universal mediation), nor outside the Church (there are different degrees of membership in the Church).
Since the Church is the universal sacrament of salvation in the world, all graces come through her and all graces are directed toward her.30 However, we should clarify that in Christ, the qualities of Mediator and of head or principle of grace are exactly identical. The Church, on the other hand, is only a channel, but not a principle of grace: She only administers the grace.
The Church’s mediation is carried out through:
· the power of the sacraments and especially the Eucharist, and
· the power of other prayers and sacrifices offered by the Church in relation to the dogma of the communion of saints.
At the same time, all graces are directed toward the Church. That is, they necessarily draw the recipient to a closer and deeper membership in the Church.
16. Degrees of Membership
Each person is admitted into the Church through faith and Baptism. With regard to membership, the following broad principles should be taken into account:
Full incorporation in the Church is for those who:
· are united to the Church by the triple bond of sacraments, teaching, and government; and
· possess the invisible reality of sanctifying grace.
Those who have this triple bond but who have lost charity—that is, those bereft of sanctifying grace as a consequence of mortal sin—belong to the Church “in their bodies,” but not “in their hearts.”
Those catechumens who, moved by the Holy Spirit, expressly request full admittance to the Church are linked to her by this very desire, and our Mother the Church embraces them with love and care.
16a) Ecumenism
There is only one true, universal (i.e., Catholic) Church. The Church is ecumenical because she incorporates in her community all people, whatever their nationality, race, or condition. The faithful enjoy full membership, but there are some who—without being united to the Church—are somehow related to her, with different degrees of closeness.31 We can distinguish among the following groups:
· The faithful
· Non-Catholic Christians
· Non-Christians
16b) The Christian Faithful
The Christian faithful enjoys a full incorporation or membership in the strict sense, which implies profession of the same faith, acceptance of all the sacraments, and communion with the ecclesial hierarchy.32
16c) Non-Catholic Christians
Non-Catholic Christians are “these who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in some, though imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church.”33
The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but who do not, however, profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter.… The Spirit stirs up desires and actions in all of Christ’s disciples in order that all may be peaceably united, as Christ ordained, in one flock under one shepherd. Mother Church never ceases to pray, hope, and work that this may be achieved, and she exhorts her children to purification and renewal so that the sign of Christ may shine more brightly over the face of the Church.34
Among these communities, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, though separated from the See of Peter, retain apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist. These Churches, which (while not existing in perfect communion with the Catholic Church) remain united to her by means of the closest bonds—that is, by apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist—are true particular Churches.35
However, communion with the universal Church, represented by Peter’s successor, is not an external requirement, but one of the internal constituents of a particular church. Thus, the existence of these communities as particular churches is wounded. They are not part of the Catholic Church.
The rift is even deeper in those ecclesial communities that have not retained the apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist (the Protestants). They are not churches in the proper sense.
This situation calls for an ecumenical commitment on the part of everyone to achieve full communion in the unity of the Church, that unity “which Christ bestowed on his Church from the beginning. We believe that this unity subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time.”36 In this ecumenical commitment, prayer, penance, study, dialogue, and collaboration are important priorities. Thus, through a new conversion to the Lord, all may be able to recognize the continuity of the primacy of Peter in his successors, the Bishops of Rome, and to see the Petrine ministry fulfilled in the manner intended by our Lord.37
16d) Non-Christians
Non-Christians are those who, not having yet received the Gospel, are somehow “related to the People of God.… Whatever good or truth is found amongst them is considered by the Church to be a preparation for the Gospel, and given by him who enlightens all men that they may at length have life.”38
Among these, the Church—the people of God in the New Covenant—acknowledges her spiritual ties with the Jewish people, the first to hear the word of God.
The Church also has a high regard for the Muslims. They worship God, who is One, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men.39
Footnotes:
1. Cf. St. Augustine, Ep., 187.34.
2. Cf. CCC, 772–776.
3. Cf. LG, 48.
4. Cf. J. Card. Ratzinger, L’Osservatore Romano, June15, 1992.
5. SC, 2; cf. LG, 8; CCC, 771.
6. Cf. P. Faynel, L’Eglise, 1, p. 288ff.
7. Cf. LG, 25–27; CCC, 774, 2014.
8. LG, 7.
9. St. Augustine, Contra Faustum, 12.20.
10. St. Leo the Great, Sermo 63.7.
11. Cf. St. John Chrysostom, In 1 Cor. Hom., 24.2; cf. LG, 3, 11.
12. Cf. J. Card. Ratzinger, L’Osservatore Romano, June 15, 1992.
13. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Decl. Dominus Iesus, 14, Aug. 6, 2000.
14. Cf. DS 702, 802, 870, 1051, 1351, 2540, 2865, 3304, 3802–08, 3866–72; LG, 14; CCC, 846–848; Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Decl. Dominus Iesus, Aug. 6, 2000.
15. NA, 2; cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Decl. Dominus Iesus, 2, Aug. 6, 2000.
16. Roman Catechism, 170.
17. DS 1351.
18. LG, 14.
19. St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Supernatural Aim of the Church, pp. 9‑10.
20. St. Augustine, Sermo ad Caesariensis Ecclesiae Plebem, 6: PL 43, 456.
21. DS 2866.
22. LG, 16; cf. DS 3869–72.
23. St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Supernatural Aim of the Church, p. 12.
24. DH, 1.
25. DS 3872.
26. St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Supernatural Aim of the Church, p. 11; cf. DS 1524.
27. LG, 14.
28. Ibid.
29. Cf. DS 3872.
30. Cf. CCC, 824, 830.
31. Cf. LG, 15–16; UR, 3–4; CCC, 817–822, 836.
32. Cf. CCC, 837.
33. UR, 3.
34. LG, 15.
35. Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Decl. Dominus Iesus, 17, Aug. 6, 2000.
36. UR, 4.
37. Cf. Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of the Church Understood as Communion, 17, May 28, 1992; cf. CCC, 838.
38. LG, 16.
39. Cf. CCC, 839–845.