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Question
Hello Father Angelo, I wanted to ask you a question.
I honestly ask myself how to keep articles 161 and 1260 of the catechism up and running. (I use capital letters to highlight what sounds like contradictions). The first one says: “Believing in Jesus Christ and He who sent Him for our salvation is NECESSARY to be saved, (…), NO ONE can ever be justified without it and no one will attain eternal life”. The second one says: “Every man who, while ignoring the Gospel of Christ and His Church, seeks the truth and does God’s will as he knows it CAN be saved”. Question: Is the faith in Christ necessary for the attainment of salvation? Clearly the answer is yes. If a man, ignoring the Gospel, does good, however, he is saved. So, how can the former be a necessary condition? If salvation comes from a particular history (incarnation, passion, death and resurrection) either you participate in that history or you are not saved. Clearly, thinking of salvation in these terms leads to the vision “extra ecclesiam nulla salus”. Yet, the Church no longer shares this last statement. Why then is it argued that salvation depends on a particular history?
Thank you
Luca
Answer from the priest
Dear Luca,
1. For the salvation of those who do not know Jesus Christ, the author’s affirmation of the letter to the Hebrews is illuminating: “Whoever approaches God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him” (accedentem ad Deum oportet credere quia est, et, inquirentibus se, remunerator est, Eb 11,6), in which some truths are indicated to believe explicitly.
2. These are those first and fundamental truths which cannot be enclosed in any other higher or more general truth and, therefore, implicitly contain all the others. Because of their character, there is no way out: either they are believed directly and explicitly or they are not believed in any way.
3. All men, in order to be saved, must have at least this minimum of faith. And here is the reason given by St. Thomas: “Because all things that we believe exist eternally in God and in which our beatitude will consist are included in the divine being (Deus est); and all the means that God uses over time for the salvation of men are included in faith in providence (remunerator est)” (Somma teologica, II-II, 1, 7). The other truths, we are not required to believe them explicitly, as it is sufficient to believe them implicitly with the disposition of the soul (in dispositione animi).
4. With this the faith of the Church remains intact. A Church that is made not only by those who have received Baptism, but also by all those who live in Grace, although not baptized. In the past, but also today, it is said that all those who live in grace, even if not baptized, are part of the soul of the Church, although they are not part of her body. For salvation it is necessary to be in grace, at least, to be part of the soul of the Church. And with this, the affirmation that outside the Church (of his soul) there is no salvation always remains valid.
5. Likewise, it does not benefit salvation to belong only to the body of the Church (to be baptized) if one is not part of this soul, because one lives without grace. As you can see, the doctrine is intact.
I remind you to the Lord and I bless you.
Father Angelo
Translated by Rossella Silvestri