The Catholic Church used to teach There is no salvation outside of it.. not being taught by the Vatican today

discombobulated1

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The Catholic Church used to teach There is no salvation outside of it.. no longer taught by the Vatican today


I've been studying and living Catholicism for a couple decades now and there are many things that seem complicated for a Catholic to fully understand

One is that the Church, prior to 1958 (which means the Church taught for 19 hundred & 58 years) that there is no salvation outside the Church Christ founded, the Catholic Church.

OK, I am not trying to argue with Protestants on whether that is true. I've done that before and gotten nowhere. What I am focused on is:

1) Do most Catholics today still believe that?
2) Do only Traditionalist Catholics believe it?
3) Does Francis explicitly teach against it? (it looks like it but I have not recently looked at what he says... decided a long time ago he is not a real Catholic.

Also, is it "hateful" to adhere to this... hateful to Protestants?

And yet the Truth is never "hateful." It is the Truth that will set us free... Unless we face the Truth--Capital T--we will never be fully IN CHRIST (who is Truth Incarnate) as is necessary to get into Heaven
 

discombobulated1

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Depends what do you mean by no salvation outside the Church?

Do you mean all non-Catholics are automatically damned once they die? Nope, we don’t teach that.
My understanding is that VIRTUALLY no one can get into Heaven except through the Catholic Church. If someone makes it to Heaven without being (fully) Catholic, it is nonetheless through the auspices of the RCC that that person made it. Maybe a person looks at the RCC and is not against it but doesn't fully understand some things about it and so does not join. The person dies before he can join but has confessed his sins as best he could to Jesus, though without a priest... That person can be saved. But those who vehemently argue against the RCC and never bother to investigate its claims to be the Original... different story
 
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RileyG

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My understanding is that VIRTUALLY no one can get into Heaven except through the Catholic Church. If someone makes it to Heaven without being (fully) Catholic, it is nonetheless through the auspices of the RCC that that person made it. Maybe a person looks at the RCC and is not against it but doesn't fully understand some things about it and so does not join. The person dies before he can join but has confessed his sins as best he could to Jesus, though without a priest... That person can be and likely is saved. But those who vehemently argue against the RCC and never bother to investigate its claims to be the Original... different story
We can always privately pray for those who died outside the Church. God exists outside of time and apply those prayers to them when they were living.
 
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Valletta

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My understanding is that VIRTUALLY no one can get into Heaven except through the Catholic Church. If someone makes it to Heaven without being (fully) Catholic, it is nonetheless through the auspices of the RCC that that person made it. Maybe a person looks at the RCC and is not against it but doesn't fully understand some things about it and so does not join. The person dies before he can join but has confessed his sins as best he could to Jesus, though without a priest... That person can be saved. But those who vehemently argue against the RCC and never bother to investigate its claims to be the Original... different story
No one can get into Heaven except through Jesus. Jesus heads the Catholic, or universal Church. The Catholic Church on earth considers other Christians to be part of the Catholic Church, although they lack the "fullness of the faith."
 
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Clare73

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The Catholic Church used to teach There is no salvation outside of it.. no longer taught by the Vatican today
I've been studying and living Catholicism for a couple decades now and there are many things that seem complicated for a Catholic to fully understand
One is that the Church, prior to 1958 (which means the Church taught for 19 hundred & 58 years) that
there is no salvation outside the Church Christ founded, the Catholic Church.
The church is the body of Christ; i.e., all born again and of faith in Jesus Christ (Jn 3:3-5).
OK, I am not trying to argue with Protestants on whether that is true. I've done that before and gotten nowhere. What I am focused on is:
1) Do most Catholics today still believe that?
2) Do only Traditionalist Catholics believe it?
3) Does Francis explicitly teach against it? (it looks like it but I have not recently looked at what he says... decided a long time ago he is not a real Catholic. Also, is it "hateful" to adhere to this... hateful to Protestants?
And yet the Truth is never "hateful." It is the Truth that will set us free... Unless we face the Truth--Capital T--we will never be fully IN CHRIST (who is Truth Incarnate) as is necessary to get into Heaven
The Biblical facts are:

1) all the born again are the body of Christ,
2) the body of Christ is the church,
3) therefore, it is correct to say there are no redeemed outside the body of Christ, the church.

And one is in the body of Christ, the church, only by faith in and trust on the atoning work (blood, Ro 3:25) and person of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sin.

So there is no salvation outside the church, because by definition the church is the assembly of the saved through faith in Jesus Christ.
So there is no salvation outside the body of Christ, the spouse of Christ
(Eph 5:30-33), which is the church.
 
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Valletta

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The Catholic Church used to teach There is no salvation outside of it.. no longer taught by the Vatican today
Today's Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

"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
 
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Simon_Templar

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The Catholic Church used to teach There is no salvation outside of it.. no longer taught by the Vatican today


I've been studying and living Catholicism for a couple decades now and there are many things that seem complicated for a Catholic to fully understand

One is that the Church, prior to 1958 (which means the Church taught for 19 hundred & 58 years) that there is no salvation outside the Church Christ founded, the Catholic Church.

OK, I am not trying to argue with Protestants on whether that is true. I've done that before and gotten nowhere. What I am focused on is:

1) Do most Catholics today still believe that?
2) Do only Traditionalist Catholics believe it?
3) Does Francis explicitly teach against it? (it looks like it but I have not recently looked at what he says... decided a long time ago he is not a real Catholic.

Also, is it "hateful" to adhere to this... hateful to Protestants?

And yet the Truth is never "hateful." It is the Truth that will set us free... Unless we face the Truth--Capital T--we will never be fully IN CHRIST (who is Truth Incarnate) as is necessary to get into Heaven

The Church still teaches this, but you have to properly understand it.

The Church has definitively stated that the understanding of this doctrine which holds that all non-Catholics are condemned to hell is false, and heretical.

What the Church teaches, and has always taught, is that the means of salvation have been sent by God into the world exclusively through the Church. Thus if any person has received the grace of salvation, they have received it through the Church, whether they are visibly a member of the Church or not.

The Church is the fullness of Jesus Christ. Apart from Christ there is no salvation.
 
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