Code: ZE05113005
Date:
2005-11-30
Nonbelievers Too
Can Be Saved, Says Pope
Refers to St. Augustine's Commentary on
Psalm 136(137)
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 30, 2005 (Zenit.org).-
Whoever seeks peace and the good of the community with a pure
conscience, and keeps alive the desire for the transcendent, will be
saved even if he lacks biblical faith, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope made this affirmation today at the general audience, commenting
on a meditation written by St. Augustine (354-430).
See:
Pope Benedict XVI's general audience, Nov. 30 2005.
1260 "Since Christ died
for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same
destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to
all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of
the Paschal mystery."62 Every man who is ignorant of the
Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the
will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It
may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism
explicitly if they had known its necessity.
Source:
Catechism of the Catholic Church online at the Vatican.
5. All the just of the earth,
including those who do not know Christ and his Church, who, under the
influence of grace, seek God with a sincere heart (cf.
Lumen gentium, n. 16), are thus called to build the kingdom of God
by working with the Lord, who is its first and decisive builder. Therefore,
we must entrust ourselves to his hands, to his Word, to his guidance, like
inexperienced children who find security only in the Father: "Whoever does
not accept the kingdom of God like a child", Jesus said, "shall not enter
it" (Lk 18: 17).Text of the Wednesday Audience message Source:
JOHN PAUL II,
GENERAL AUDIENCE, Wednesday 6 December 2000.
With the Apostle
Peter, we confess that "there is salvation in no one else" (Acts
4: 12). The Declaration
Dominus Iesus, following the lead of the Second Vatican Council,
shows us that this confession does not deny salvation to non-Christians,
but points to its ultimate source in Christ, in whom man and God are
united. God gives light to all in a way which is accomodated to their
spiritual and material situation, granting them salvific grace in ways
known to himself (Dominus
Iesus, VI, nn. 20-21). The Document clarifies essential
Christian elements, which do not hinder dialogue but show its bases,
because a dialogue without foundations would be destined to degenerate
into empty wordiness.
Source:
POPE'S WORDS BEFORE THE "ANGELUS", VATICAN CITY, OCT. 1, 2000
3. The Holy Spirit is not only present in
other religions through authentic expressions of prayer. “The Spirit’s
presence and activity”, as I wrote in the Encyclical Letter Redemptoris
missio, “affect not only individuals but also society and history,
peoples, cultures and religions” (n. 28).
Normally, “it will be in the sincere
practice of what is good in their own religious traditions and by
following the dictates of their own conscience that the members of other
religions respond positively to God’s invitation and receive salvation
in Jesus Christ, even while they do not recognize or acknowledge him as
their Saviour (cf. Ad gentes, nn. 3, 9, 11)” (Pontifical Council for
Interreligious Dialogue – Congregation for the Evangelization of
Peoples,
Instruction Dialogue and Proclamation, 19 May 1991, n.
29; L’Osservatore Romano English edition, 1 July 1991, p. III).
Source:
Pope John Paul II, General Audience, Wednesday 9 September 1998
16. ... Those also can attain to salvation
who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or
His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their
deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of
conscience.(19*) Nor does Divine Providence deny the helps necessary for
salvation to those who, without blame on their part, have not yet
arrived at an explicit knowledge of God and with His grace strive to
live a good life.
(19*) Cfr. Epist. S.S.C.S. Officii ad
Archiep. Boston.: Denz. 3869-72.
Source:
Lumen Gentium, (DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH), Pope Paul
VI, November 21, 1964, section 16.
Cardinal Arinze says
it is possible to get to heaven without accepting Jesus.
| During a
group discussion of religious leaders from around the world,
held at the Thanksgiving World Assembly in Dallas, Texas, in
March of 1999, Cardinal Francis Arinze, President of the
Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, is quoted as
follows: |
 |
|
Cardinal
Francis Arinze
© 2000 by CTV |
"(A document from the
Second Vatican Council) says that God's grant of salvation includes not
only Christians, but Jews, Muslims, Hindus and people of good will. That
is, a person can be saved, can attain salvation, but on condition that
the person is open to God's action. ..." ...
Robert Ashley, news
director at Dallas radio station KHVN-AM, asked Cardinal Arinze: "So you
can still get to heaven without accepting Jesus?"
Cardinal Arinze
answered: "Expressly, yes (he laughs with the audience)."
Source: 'If God
himself gave freedom',
article © March 20, 1999, by Brooks Egerton, staff writer of
The Dallas Morning News,
third edition, page 1G.
This is a very interesting situation,
where the Vatican is proclaiming itself to be the one true church of Christ,
and that all non-Roman Catholic denominations "suffer from defects" and "are
not Churches in the proper sense", and other religions "are in a gravely
deficient situation", while at the same time they are denying that faith in
Jesus Christ is necessary to salvation, that non-Christians can be saved.
Truly Amazing!
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life.
John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the
world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be
saved.
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not
condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 8:24 I
said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye
believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
Jesus Himself says in the Bible says that
non-Christians cannot be saved, but the Pope says they can be
saved.
Who shall we believe? Jesus or the Pope?
1 John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that
denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the
Father and the Son.
1 John 2:23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father:
(but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
Denying that faith in Jesus Christ in necessary
to salvation, is denying Christ Himself. The Bible flatly calls this
Antichrist.
Update
Vatican
Again Declares
Non-Christian Jews Saved!
Faith in Jesus is NOT Necessary!
"The universality of Christ's
redemption for Jews and gentiles is so fundamental throughout the entire
New Testament ... that it cannot be ignored or passed over in silence,"
"This does not mean that Jews in order
to be saved have to become Christians; if they follow their
own conscience and believe in God's promises as they understand them in
their religious tradition, they are in line with God's plan, which for
us comes to historical completion in Jesus Christ," ―
Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Vatican's Commission for
Religious Relations with the Jews, Nov. 6th 2002.
Source:
Catholic News Service
Evangelization and the Jewish
People
... Thus, while the Catholic Church regards
the saving act of Christ as central to the process of human salvation
for all, it also acknowledges that Jews already dwell in a saving
covenant with God. The Catholic Church must always evangelize
and will always witness to its faith in the presence of God's kingdom in
Jesus Christ to Jews and to all other people. In so doing, the Catholic
Church respects fully the principles of religious freedom and freedom of
conscience, so that sincere individual converts from any tradition or
people, including the Jewish people, will be welcomed and accepted.
However, it now recognizes that Jews are also called by God to prepare
the world for God's kingdom. Their witness to the kingdom, which did not
originate with the Church's experience of Christ crucified and raised,
must not be curtailed by seeking the conversion of the Jewish people to
Christianity. ...
Source:
Reflections on Covenant and Mission,
issued August 12th, 2002
by U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Ecumenical and Inter-religious
Affairs Committee and the National Council Of Synagogues.
179. Would a good and
practicing Jew go to heaven, despite his not being baptized a Christian?
Yes, provided through no
fault of his own he did not at any time advert to the truth of
Christianity, and to the necessity of actual baptism; and provided he
sincerely believed Judaism to be still the true religion, and died truly
repentant of all serious violations of conscience during life.
Source: Radio Replies,
third volume, by Fathers Rumble and Carty, Radio Replies Press, St. Paul
1, Minn., U.S.A., copyright 1942, page 43.
If non-Christian Jews are indeed saved, despite
their rejection of Jesus Christ as the Messiah, then why were the 12
Apostles initially commanded by Jesus to take the Gospel only to the Jews,
who are described as lost sheep? (This changed after the stoning of
Stephen by the Sanhedrin, when the Apostles were directed by God to also
take the Gospel to the Gentiles.)
Mat 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and
commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the
Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
Mat 10:6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel.
Mat 15:24 But he answered and said,
I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Acts 4:10 Be it known unto you all,
and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by
him doth this man stand here before you whole.
Acts 4:11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders,
which is become the head of the corner.
Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is
none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
According to the Bible, even the Jews need to
hear and accept the Gospel message of Jesus Christ to be saved, despite
Antichrist Catholic pronouncements to the contrary.
Note these historic and dogmatic statements
from the Roman Catholic Church regarding Jews:
The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes,
professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic
Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can
have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal
fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before
death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of
this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can
profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone
can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings,
their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian
soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even
if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he
remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church.
Source: Papal Bull
Cantate Domino,
by Pope Eugene IV, 1441.
Who
is alienated & utterly separated from the Church of Christ?
The Jews, and all
Infidels, and they that by Apostasy forsake their faith. And heretics
which although they be christened, yet obstinately defend error against
the Catholic faith. Moreover Schismatics, which separate themselves from
peace and Catholic unity: also they that be lawfully excommunicated. All
these manner of people are excluded from the Communion of Saints, the
participation of Sacraments, & sufferages of the Church: which be clean
void of a spiritual life, & are in bondage of the devil.
Source:
A Catechisme or Christian
Doctrine, by Laurence Vaux, B.D., reprinted from a 1583
edition by The Chetham Society in 1885, Manchester England, (updated to
modern spelling for this excerpt) page 18.
Q. Why may not a well-meaning person be
saved in any religion?
A. Because there is but one Lord, one faith, one baptism, Ephes.
iv. 5, and without (that one) faith, it is impossible to please God.
Heb. xi. 6.
Q. What other reason have you for it?
A. Because, as in a natural body, that part which has not a due
connection to the heart or root, presently dies for want of continuity;
so in the church (the mystical body of Christ) that man who has not a
due subordination and connection to the head and common councils
thereof, (that is, the Pope and general councils from whence under
Christ we have our spiritual life and motion, as we are Christians,)
must needs be dead, nor indeed can he be accounted a member of that
mystical body.
Q. Who, I beseech you, are those who are not to be accounted members
of the Church?
A. All such as are not in the unity of the church, by a most firm
belief of her doctrine, and due obedience to her pastors; as Jews,
Turks, Heretics, &c.
Source:
The Douay Catechism
(An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine) of 1649, by Henry Tuberville,
D.D., published by P. J. Kenedy, Excelsior Catholic Publishing House, 5
Barclay Street, New York, approved and recommended for his diocese by
the Right Rev. Benedict, Bishop of Boston, April 24th, 1833, page 21.
Here is what the Roman Catholic Church used to
teach regarding non-Catholics. The following statements were condemned as
error:
III. INDIFFERENTISM, LATITUDINARIANISM
15. Every man is free to embrace and
profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall
consider true. -- Allocution "Maxima quidem," June 9, 1862; Damnatio "Multiplices
inter," June 10, 1851.
16. Man may, in the observance of any
religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation, and arrive at
eternal salvation. -- Encyclical "Qui pluribus," Nov. 9, 1846.
17. Good hope at least is to be entertained
of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true
Church of Christ. -- Encyclical "Quanto conficiamur," Aug. 10, 1863,
etc.
18. Protestantism is nothing more than
another form of the same true Christian religion, in which form it is
given to please God equally as in the Catholic Church. -- Encyclical "Noscitis,"
Dec. 8, 1849.
And we are to believe that the infallible
teachings of the Church of Rome never change? Note this from the
Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible:
Galatians 2:7 But contrariwise, when they
had seen that to me [Paul] was committed the gospel of the
uncircumcision, as to Peter was that of the circumcision.
Galatians 2:8 (For he who wrought in Peter to the apostleship of the
circumcision, wrought in me [Paul] also among the Gentiles.)
Here we see from the epistle of the Apostle
Paul to the Galatians that Peter's commission was to preach to the Jews (the
circumcision) while Paul's commission was to the Gentiles (the
uncircumcision). But today, the Pope, the Vatican and other Catholics are
teaching that the Jews need not become Christians in order to be saved.
They are, in fact, repudiating the commission of Peter to take the
Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Jews as completely unnecessary! This teaching
could be correctly described as being antichrist.
God's Simple Plan |
Ye must be born again!
There is NO salvation in the Catholic Church, neither in the Roman nor the
Russian Orthodox Catholic Churches. Catholicism is of the Devil—an evil
religion that teaches a false Gospel of works salvation, Mary worship, and
umpteen other heresies.