Declaration "Dominus Iesus"
on the Unicity and Salvific Universality
of Jesus Christ and the Church
1. The Lord Jesus, before ascending into
heaven, commanded his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world and
to baptize all nations: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to
every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; he who does not
believe will be condemned” (Mk
16:15-16); “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded
you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the world” (Mt 28:18-20; cf. Lk 24:46-48; Jn
17:18,20,21; Acts 1:8).
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, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the
mystery of the incarnation of the Son, as saving event for all humanity. The
fundamental contents of the profession of the Christian faith are expressed
thus: “I believe in one God, the Father, Almighty, maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only
Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father.
Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation, he came
down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate of the
Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius
Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance
with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of
the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and
his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver
of life, who proceeds from the Father. With the Father and the Son he is
worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the prophets. I believe in one
holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the
forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of
the world to come”.1
2. In the course of the centuries, the Church
has proclaimed and witnessed with fidelity to the Gospel of Jesus. At the close
of the second millennium, however, this mission is still far from complete.2
For that reason, Saint Paul's words are now more relevant than ever: “Preaching
the Gospel is not a reason for me to boast; it is a necessity laid on me: woe
to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1
Cor 9:16). This explains the Magisterium's particular attention to giving
reasons for and supporting the evangelizing mission of the Church, above all in
connection with the religious traditions of the world.3
In considering the values which these religions witness
to and offer humanity, with an open and positive approach, the Second Vatican
Council's Declaration on the relation of the Church to non-Christian religions
states: “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 teachings, which, although differing in many ways from her own
teaching, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all
men”.4 Continuing in this line of thought, the Church's proclamation
of Jesus Christ, “the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6), today also makes use of the practice of inter-religious
dialogue. Such dialogue certainly does not replace, but rather accompanies the missio ad gentes, directed toward that
“mystery of unity”, from which “it follows that all men and women who are saved
share, though differently, in the same mystery of salvation in Jesus Christ
through his Spirit”.5 Inter-religious dialogue, which is part of the
Church's evangelizing mission,6 requires an attitude of
understanding and a relationship of mutual knowledge and reciprocal enrichment,
in obedience to the truth and with respect for freedom.7
3. In the practice of dialogue between the
Christian faith and other religious traditions, as well as in seeking to
understand its theoretical basis more deeply, new questions arise that need to
be addressed through pursuing new paths of research, advancing proposals, and
suggesting ways of acting that call for attentive discernment. In this task,
the present Declaration seeks to recall to Bishops, theologians, and all the
Catholic faithful, certain indispensable elements of Christian doctrine, which
may help theological reflection in developing solutions consistent with the
contents of the faith and responsive to the pressing needs of contemporary
culture.
The expository language of the Declaration corresponds
to its purpose, which is not to treat in a systematic manner the question of
the unicity and salvific universality of the mystery of Jesus Christ and the
Church, nor to propose solutions to questions that are matters of free
theological debate, but rather to set forth again the doctrine of the Catholic
faith in these areas, pointing out some fundamental questions that remain open
to further development, and refuting specific positions that are erroneous or
ambiguous. For this reason, the Declaration takes up what has been taught in
previous Magisterial documents, in order to reiterate certain truths that are
part of the Church's faith.
4. The Church's constant missionary proclamation
is endangered today by relativistic theories which seek to justify religious
pluralism, not only de facto but also
de iure (or in principle). As a
consequence, it is held that certain truths have been superseded; for example,
the definitive and complete character of the revelation of Jesus Christ, the
nature of Christian faith as compared with that of belief in other religions,
the inspired nature of the books of Sacred Scripture, the personal unity
between the Eternal Word and Jesus of Nazareth, the unity of the economy of the
Incarnate Word and the Holy Spirit, the unicity and salvific universality of
the mystery of Jesus Christ, the universal salvific mediation of the Church,
the inseparability — while recognizing the distinction — of the kingdom of God,
the kingdom of Christ, and the Church, and the subsistence of the one Church of
Christ in the Catholic Church.
The roots of these problems are to be found in certain
presuppositions of both a philosophical and theological nature, which hinder
the understanding and acceptance of the revealed truth. Some of these can be
mentioned: the conviction of the elusiveness and inexpressibility of divine
truth, even by Christian revelation; relativistic attitudes toward truth
itself, according to which what is true for some would not be true for others;
the radical opposition posited between the logical mentality of the West and
the symbolic mentality of the East; the subjectivism which, by regarding reason
as the only source of knowledge, becomes incapable of raising its “gaze to the
heights, not daring to rise to the truth of being”;8 the difficulty
in understanding and accepting the presence of definitive and eschatological
events in history; the metaphysical emptying of the historical incarnation of
the Eternal Logos, reduced to a mere appearing of God in history; the
eclecticism of those who, in theological research, uncritically absorb ideas
from a variety of philosophical and theological contexts without regard for
consistency, systematic connection, or compatibility with Christian truth;
finally, the tendency to read and to interpret Sacred Scripture outside the
Tradition and Magisterium of the Church.
On the basis of such presuppositions, which may evince
different nuances, certain theological proposals are developed — at times
presented as assertions, and at times as hypotheses — in which Christian
revelation and the mystery of Jesus Christ and the Church lose their character
of absolute truth and salvific universality, or at least shadows of doubt and
uncertainty are cast upon them.
5. As a remedy
for this relativistic mentality, which is becoming ever more common, it is
necessary above all to reassert the definitive and complete character of the
revelation of Jesus Christ. In fact, it must be firmly believed that, in the mystery of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate
Son of God, who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6), the full revelation of divine truth is given: “No one
knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and
anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him” (Mt 11:27); “No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is in
the bosom of the Father, has revealed him” (Jn
1:18); “For in Christ the whole fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form” (Col 2:9-10).
Faithful to God's word, the Second Vatican Council
teaches: “By this revelation then, the deepest truth about God and the
salvation of man shines forth in Christ, who is at the same time the mediator
and the fullness of all revelation”.9 Furthermore, “Jesus Christ,
therefore, the Word made flesh, sent ‘as a man to men', ‘speaks the words of
God' (Jn 3:34), and completes the
work of salvation which his Father gave him to do (cf. Jn 5:36; 17:4). To see Jesus is to see his Father (cf. Jn 14:9). For this reason, Jesus
perfected revelation by fulfilling it through his whole work of making himself
present and manifesting himself: through his words and deeds, his signs and
wonders, but especially through his death and glorious resurrection from the
dead and finally with the sending of the Spirit of truth, he completed and
perfected revelation and confirmed it with divine testimony... The Christian
dispensation, therefore, as the new and definitive covenant, will never pass
away, and we now await no further new public revelation before the glorious
manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. 1
Tim 6:14 and Tit 2:13)”.10
Thus, the Encyclical Redemptoris
missio calls the Church once again to the task of announcing the Gospel as
the fullness of truth: “In this definitive Word of his revelation, God has made
himself known in the fullest possible way. He has revealed to mankind who he
is. This definitive self-revelation of God is the fundamental reason why the Church
is missionary by her very nature. She cannot do other than proclaim the Gospel,
that is, the fullness of the truth which God has enabled us to know about
himself”.11 Only the revelation of Jesus Christ, therefore,
“introduces into our history a universal and ultimate truth which stirs the
human mind to ceaseless effort”.12
6. Therefore,
the theory of the limited, incomplete, or imperfect character of the revelation
of Jesus Christ, which would be complementary to that found in other religions,
is contrary to the Church's faith. Such a position would claim to be based on
the notion that the truth about God cannot be grasped and manifested in its
globality and completeness by any historical religion, neither by Christianity
nor by Jesus Christ.
Such a position is in radical contradiction with the
foregoing statements of Catholic faith according to which the full and complete
revelation of the salvific mystery of God is given in Jesus Christ. Therefore,
the words, deeds, and entire historical event of Jesus, though limited as human
realities, have nevertheless the divine Person of the Incarnate Word, “true God
and true man”13 as their subject. For this reason, they possess in
themselves the definitiveness and completeness of the revelation of God's
salvific ways, even if the depth of the divine mystery in itself remains
transcendent and inexhaustible. The
truth about God is not abolished or reduced because it is spoken in human
language; rather, it is unique, full, and complete, because he who speaks and acts
is the Incarnate Son of God. Thus, faith requires us to profess that the Word
made flesh, in his entire mystery, who moves from incarnation to glorification,
is the source, participated but real, as well as the fulfilment of every
salvific revelation of God to humanity,14 and that the Holy Spirit,
who is Christ's Spirit, will teach this “entire truth” (Jn 16:13) to the Apostles and, through them, to the whole Church.
7. The proper
response to God's revelation is “the
obedience of faith (Rom 16:26; cf.
Rom 1:5; 2 Cor 10:5-6) by which man freely entrusts his entire self to God,
offering ‘the full submission of intellect and will to God who reveals' and
freely assenting to the revelation given by him”.15 Faith is a gift
of grace: “in order to have faith, the grace of God must come first and give
assistance; there must also be the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves
the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and gives ‘to
everyone joy and ease in assenting to and believing in the truth'”.16
The obedience of faith implies acceptance of the truth
of Christ's revelation, guaranteed by God, who is Truth itself:17
“Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God. At the same time,
and inseparably, it is a free assent to the
whole truth that God has revealed”.18 Faith, therefore, as “a gift of God” and as “a supernatural virtue infused by him”,19
involves a dual adherence: to God who reveals and to the truth which he
reveals, out of the trust which one has in him who speaks. Thus, “we must
believe in no one but God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”.20
For this reason, the distinction between theological faith and belief in the other religions, must be firmly held. If faith is the acceptance in grace of revealed truth,
which “makes it possible to penetrate the mystery in a way that allows us to
understand it coherently”,21 then belief, in the other religions, is
that sum of experience and thought that constitutes the human treasury of
wisdom and religious aspiration, which man in his search for truth has
conceived and acted upon in his relationship to God and the Absolute.22
This distinction is not always borne in mind in current
theological reflection. Thus, theological faith (the acceptance of the truth
revealed by the One and Triune God) is often identified with belief in other
religions, which is religious experience still in search of the absolute truth
and still lacking assent to God who reveals himself. This is one of the reasons
why the differences between Christianity and the other religions tend to be
reduced at times to the point of disappearance.
8. The
hypothesis of the inspired value of the sacred writings of other religions is
also put forward. Certainly, it must be recognized that there are some elements
in these texts which may be de facto
instruments by which countless people throughout the centuries have been and
still are able today to nourish and maintain their life-relationship with God.
Thus, as noted above, the Second Vatican Council, in considering the customs,
precepts, and teachings of the other religions, teaches that “although
differing in many ways from her own teaching, these nevertheless often reflect
a ray of that truth which enlightens all men”.23
The Church's tradition, however, reserves the
designation of inspired texts to the
canonical books of the Old and New Testaments, since these are inspired by the
Holy Spirit.24 Taking up
this tradition, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation of the Second
Vatican Council states: “For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the
apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and New
Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that,
written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 20:31; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:19-21; 3:15-16), they have God
as their author, and have been handed on as such to the Church herself”.25 These books “firmly, faithfully, and without
error, teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see
confided to the Sacred Scriptures”.26
Nevertheless, God, who desires to call all peoples to
himself in Christ and to communicate to them the fullness of his revelation and
love, “does not fail to make himself present in many ways, not only to
individuals, but also to entire peoples through their spiritual riches, of
which their religions are the main and essential expression even when they
contain ‘gaps, insufficiencies and errors'”.27 Therefore, the sacred
books of other religions, which in actual fact direct and nourish the existence
of their followers, receive from the mystery of Christ the elements of goodness
and grace which they contain.
9. In
contemporary theological reflection there often emerges an approach to Jesus of
Nazareth that considers him a particular, finite, historical figure, who
reveals the divine not in an exclusive way, but in a way complementary with
other revelatory and salvific figures. The Infinite, the Absolute, the Ultimate
Mystery of God would thus manifest itself to humanity in many ways and in many
historical figures: Jesus of Nazareth would be one of these. More concretely,
for some, Jesus would be one of the many faces which the Logos has assumed in
the course of time to communicate with humanity in a salvific way.
Furthermore, to justify the universality of Christian
salvation as well as the fact of religious pluralism, it has been proposed that
there is an economy of the eternal Word that is valid also outside the Church
and is unrelated to her, in addition to an economy of the incarnate Word. The
first would have a greater universal value than the second, which is limited to
Christians, though God's presence would be more full in the second.
10. These theses
are in profound conflict with the Christian faith. The doctrine of faith must
be firmly believed which proclaims
that Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, and he alone, is the Son and the Word of
the Father. The Word, which “was in the beginning with God” (Jn 1:2) is the same as he who “became
flesh” (Jn 1:14). In Jesus, “the
Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt
16:16), “the whole fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form” (Col 2:9). He is the “only begotten Son
of the Father, who is in the bosom of the Father” (Jn 1:18), his “beloved Son, in whom we have redemption... In him
the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him, God was pleased to
reconcile all things to himself, on earth and in the heavens, making peace by
the blood of his Cross” (Col 1:13-14;
19-20).
Faithful to Sacred Scripture and refuting erroneous and
reductive interpretations, the First Council of Nicaea solemnly defined its
faith in: “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten generated from the
Father, that is, from the being of the Father, God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father,
through whom all things were made, those in heaven and those on earth. For us
men and for our salvation, he came down and became incarnate, was made man,
suffered, and rose again on the third day. He ascended to the heavens and shall
come again to judge the living and the dead”.28 Following the
teachings of the Fathers of the Church, the Council of Chalcedon also
professed: “the one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect
in divinity and perfect in humanity, the same truly God and truly man..., one
in being with the Father according to the divinity and one in being with us
according to the humanity..., begotten of the Father before the ages according
to the divinity and, in these last days, for us and our salvation, of Mary, the
Virgin Mother of God, according to the humanity”.29
For this reason, the Second Vatican Council states that
Christ “the new Adam...‘image of the invisible God' (Col 1:15) is himself the perfect man who has restored that likeness
to God in the children of Adam which had been disfigured since the first sin...
As an innocent lamb he merited life for us by his blood which he freely shed.
In him God reconciled us to himself and to one another, freeing us from the
bondage of the devil and of sin, so that each one of us could say with the
apostle: the Son of God ‘loved me and gave himself up for me' (Gal 2:20)”.30
In this regard, John Paul II has explicitly declared:
“To introduce any sort of separation between the Word and Jesus Christ is
contrary to the Christian faith... Jesus is the Incarnate Word — a single and
indivisible person... Christ is none other than Jesus of Nazareth; he is the Word
of God made man for the salvation of all... In the process of discovering and
appreciating the manifold gifts — especially the spiritual treasures — that God
has bestowed on every people, we cannot separate those gifts from Jesus Christ,
who is at the centre of God's plan of salvation”.31
It is likewise contrary to the Catholic faith to
introduce a separation between the salvific action of the Word as such and that
of the Word made man. With the incarnation, all the salvific actions of the
Word of God are always done in unity with the human nature that he has assumed
for the salvation of all people. The one subject which operates in the two
natures, human and divine, is the single person of the Word.32
Therefore, the theory which would attribute, after the
incarnation as well, a salvific activity to the Logos as such in his divinity,
exercised “in addition to” or “beyond” the humanity of Christ, is not
compatible with the Catholic faith.33
11. Similarly,
the doctrine of faith regarding the unicity of the salvific economy willed by
the One and Triune God must be firmly
believed, at the source and centre of which is the mystery of the
incarnation of the Word, mediator of divine grace on the level of creation and
redemption (cf. Col 1:15-20), he who
recapitulates all things (cf. Eph
1:10), he “whom God has made our wisdom, our righteousness, and sanctification
and redemption” (1 Cor 1:30). In
fact, the mystery of Christ has its own intrinsic unity, which extends from the
eternal choice in God to the parousia: “he [the Father] chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love”
(Eph 1:4); “In Christ we are heirs,
having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all
things according to his counsel and will” (Eph
1:11); “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the
image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers;
those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also
justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Rom 8:29-30).
The Church's Magisterium, faithful to divine revelation,
reasserts that Jesus Christ is the mediator and the universal redeemer: “The
Word of God, through whom all things were made, was made flesh, so that as
perfect man he could save all men and sum up all things in himself. The
Lord...is he whom the Father raised from the dead, exalted and placed at his
right hand, constituting him judge of the living and the dead”.34
This salvific mediation implies also the unicity of the redemptive sacrifice of
Christ, eternal high priest (cf. Heb
6:20; 9:11; 10:12-14).
12. There are
also those who propose the hypothesis of an economy of the Holy Spirit with a
more universal breadth than that of the Incarnate Word, crucified and risen.
This position also is contrary to the Catholic faith, which, on the contrary,
considers the salvific incarnation of the Word as a trinitarian event. In the
New Testament, the mystery of Jesus, the Incarnate Word, constitutes the place
of the Holy Spirit's presence as well as the principle of the Spirit's effusion
on humanity, not only in messianic times (cf. Acts 2:32-36; Jn 7:39,
20:22; 1 Cor 15:45), but also prior
to his coming in history (cf. 1 Cor
10:4; 1 Pet 1:10-12).
The Second Vatican Council has recalled to the
consciousness of the Church's faith this fundamental truth. In presenting the
Father's salvific plan for all humanity, the Council closely links the mystery
of Christ from its very beginnings with that of the Spirit.35 The
entire work of building the Church by Jesus Christ the Head, in the course of
the centuries, is seen as an action which he does in communion with his Spirit.36
Furthermore, the salvific action of Jesus Christ, with
and through his Spirit, extends beyond the visible boundaries of the Church to
all humanity. Speaking of the paschal mystery, in which Christ even now
associates the believer to himself in a living manner in the Spirit and gives
him the hope of resurrection, the Council states: “All this holds true not only
for Christians but also for all men of good will in whose hearts grace is
active invisibly. For 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 partners, in a way known to
God, in the paschal mystery”.37
Hence, the connection is clear between the salvific
mystery of the Incarnate Word and that of the Spirit, who actualizes the
salvific efficacy of the Son made man in the lives of all people, called by God
to a single goal, both those who historically preceded the Word made man, and
those who live after his coming in history: the Spirit of the Father, bestowed
abundantly by the Son, is the animator of all (cf. Jn 3:34).
Thus, the recent Magisterium of the Church has firmly
and clearly recalled the truth of a single divine economy: “The Spirit's
presence and activity affect not only individuals but also society and history,
peoples, cultures and religions... The Risen Christ ‘is now at work in human
hearts through the strength of his Spirit'... Again, it is the Spirit who sows
the ‘seeds of the word' present in various customs and cultures, preparing them
for full maturity in Christ”.38 While recognizing the
historical-salvific function of the Spirit in the whole universe and in the
entire history of humanity,39 the Magisterium states: “This is the
same Spirit who was at work in the incarnation and in the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus and who is at work in the Church. He is therefore not an
alternative to Christ nor does he fill a sort of void which is sometimes
suggested as existing between Christ and the Logos. Whatever the Spirit brings
about in human hearts and in the history of peoples, in cultures and religions,
serves as a preparation for the Gospel and can only be understood in reference
to Christ, the Word who took flesh by the power of the Spirit ‘so that as
perfectly human he would save all human beings and sum up all things'”.40
In conclusion, the action of the Spirit is not outside
or parallel to the action of Christ. There is only one salvific economy of the
One and Triune God, realized in the mystery of the incarnation, death, and
resurrection of the Son of God, actualized with the cooperation of the Holy
Spirit, and extended in its salvific value to all humanity and to the entire
universe: “No one, therefore, can enter into communion with God except through
Christ, by the working of the Holy Spirit”.41
13. The thesis
which denies the unicity and salvific universality of the mystery of Jesus
Christ is also put forward. Such a position has no biblical foundation. In
fact, the truth of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Lord and only Saviour, who through
the event of his incarnation, death and resurrection has brought the history of
salvation to fulfilment, and which has in him its fullness and centre, must be firmly believed as a constant element of
the Church's faith.
The New Testament attests to this fact with clarity:
“The Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world” (1 Jn 4:14); “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world” (Jn 1:29). In his discourse
before the Sanhedrin, Peter, in order to justify the healing of a man who was
crippled from birth, which was done in the name of Jesus (cf. Acts 3:1-8), proclaims: “There is
salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among
men by which we must be saved” (Acts
4:12). St. Paul adds, moreover, that Jesus Christ “is Lord of all”, “judge of
the living and the dead”, and thus “whoever believes in him receives
forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts
10: 36,42,43).
Paul, addressing himself to the community of Corinth,
writes: “Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth
— as in fact there are many gods and many lords — yet for us there is one God,
the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus
Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist” (1 Cor 8:5-6). Furthermore, John the
Apostle states: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. God did
not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the
world might be saved through him” (Jn
3:16-17). In the New Testament, the universal salvific will of God is closely
connected to the sole mediation of Christ: “[God] desires all men to be saved and
to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God; there is also one
mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a
ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:4-6).
It was in the awareness of the one universal gift of
salvation offered by the Father through Jesus Christ in the Spirit (cf. Eph 1:3-14), that the first Christians
encountered the Jewish people, showing them the fulfilment of salvation that
went beyond the Law and, in the same awareness, they confronted the pagan world
of their time, which aspired to salvation through a plurality of saviours. This
inheritance of faith has been recalled recently by the Church's Magisterium:
“The Church believes that Christ, who died and was raised for the sake of all
(cf. 2 Cor 5:15) can, through his
Spirit, give man the light and the strength to be able to respond to his
highest calling, nor is there any other name under heaven given among men by
which they can be saved (cf. Acts
4:12). The Church likewise believes that the key, the centre, and the purpose
of the whole of man's history is to be found in its Lord and Master”.42
14. It must
therefore 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.
Bearing in mind this article of faith, theology today,
in its reflection on the existence of other religious experiences and on their
meaning in God's salvific plan, is invited to explore if and in what way the
historical figures and positive elements of these religions may fall within the
divine plan of salvation. In this undertaking, theological research has a vast
field of work under the guidance of the Church's Magisterium. The Second Vatican Council, in fact, has
stated that: “the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude, but rather
gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a participation in this one
source”.43 The content of this participated mediation should be
explored more deeply, but must remain always consistent with the principle of
Christ's unique mediation: “Although participated forms of mediation of
different kinds and degrees are not excluded, they acquire meaning and value only from Christ's own mediation, and
they cannot be understood as parallel or complementary to his”.44
Hence, those solutions that propose a salvific action of God beyond the unique
mediation of Christ would be contrary to Christian and Catholic faith.
15. Not
infrequently it is proposed that theology should avoid the use of terms like
“unicity”, “universality”, and “absoluteness”, which give the impression of
excessive emphasis on the significance and value of the salvific event of Jesus
Christ in relation to other religions. In reality, however, such language is
simply being faithful to revelation, since it represents a development of the
sources of the faith themselves. From
the beginning, the community of believers has recognized in Jesus a salvific
value such that he alone, as Son of God made man, crucified and risen, by the
mission received from the Father and in the power of the Holy Spirit, bestows
revelation (cf. Mt 11:27) and divine
life (cf. Jn 1:12; 5:25-26; 17:2) to
all humanity and to every person.
In this sense, one can and must say that Jesus Christ
has a significance and a value for the human race and its history, which are
unique and singular, proper to him alone, exclusive, universal, and absolute.
Jesus is, in fact, the Word of God made man for the salvation of all. In
expressing this consciousness of faith, the Second Vatican Council teaches:
“The Word of God, through whom all things were made, was made flesh, so that as
perfect man he could save all men and sum up all things in himself. The Lord is
the goal of human history, the focal point of the desires of history and
civilization, the centre of mankind, the joy of all hearts, and the fulfilment
of all aspirations. It is he whom the Father raised from the dead, exalted and
placed at his right hand, constituting him judge of the living and the dead”.45
“It is precisely this uniqueness of Christ which gives him an absolute and
universal significance whereby, while belonging to history, he remains
history's centre and goal: ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the
last, the beginning and the end' (Rev
22:13)”.46
16. The Lord Jesus, the only Saviour, did not
only establish a simple community of disciples, but constituted the Church as a
salvific mystery: he himself is in
the Church and the Church is in him (cf. Jn
15:1ff.; Gal 3:28; Eph 4:15-16; Acts 9:5). Therefore, the
fullness of Christ's salvific mystery belongs also to the Church, inseparably
united to her Lord. Indeed, Jesus Christ continues his presence and his work of
salvation in the Church and by means of the Church (cf. Col 1:24-27),47 which is his body (cf. 1 Cor 12:12-13, 27; Col 1:18).48 And thus, just as the head and members of a
living body, though not identical, are inseparable, so too Christ and the
Church can neither be confused nor separated, and constitute a single “whole
Christ”.49 This same inseparability is also expressed in the New
Testament by the analogy of the Church as the Bride of Christ (cf. 2 Cor
11:2; Eph 5:25-29; Rev 21:2,9).50
Therefore, in connection with the unicity and
universality of the salvific mediation of Jesus Christ, the unicity of the
Church founded by him must be firmly
believed as a truth of Catholic faith. Just as there is one Christ, so
there exists a single body of Christ, a single Bride of Christ: “a single
Catholic and apostolic Church”.51 Furthermore, the promises of the
Lord that he would not abandon his Church (cf. Mt 16:18; 28:20) and that he would guide her by his Spirit (cf. Jn 16:13) mean, according to Catholic
faith, that the unicity and the unity of the Church — like everything that
belongs to the Church's integrity — will never be lacking.52
The Catholic faithful are required to profess that there is an historical continuity —
rooted in the apostolic succession53 — between the Church founded by
Christ and the Catholic Church: “This is the single Church of Christ... which
our Saviour, after his resurrection, entrusted to Peter's pastoral care (cf. Jn 21:17), commissioning him and the
other Apostles to extend and rule her (cf. Mt
28:18ff.), erected for all ages as ‘the pillar and mainstay of the truth' (1 Tim 3:15). This Church, constituted
and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in [subsistit in] the Catholic Church,
governed by the Successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him”.54 With the expression subsistit in, the Second Vatican Council sought to harmonize two
doctrinal statements: on the one hand, that the Church of Christ, despite the
divisions which exist among Christians, continues to exist fully only in the
Catholic Church, and on the other hand, that “outside of her structure, many
elements can be found of sanctification and truth”,55 that is, in
those Churches and ecclesial communities which are not yet in full communion
with the Catholic Church.56 But with respect to these, it needs to
be stated that “they derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and
truth entrusted to the Catholic Church”.57
17. Therefore,
there exists a single Church of Christ, which subsists in the Catholic Church,
governed by the Successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him.58
The 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.59
Therefore, the Church of Christ is present and operative also in these
Churches, even though they lack full communion with the Catholic Church, since
they do not accept the Catholic doctrine of the Primacy, which, according to
the will of God, the Bishop of Rome objectively has and exercises over the
entire Church.60
On the other hand, the ecclesial communities which have
not preserved the valid Episcopate and the genuine and integral substance of
the Eucharistic mystery,61 are not Churches in the proper sense;
however, those who are baptized in these communities are, by Baptism,
incorporated in Christ and thus are in a certain communion, albeit imperfect,
with the Church.62 Baptism in fact tends per se toward the full
development of life in Christ, through the integral profession of faith, the
Eucharist, and full communion in the Church.63
“The Christian faithful are therefore not permitted to
imagine that the Church of Christ is nothing more than a collection — divided,
yet in some way one — of Churches and ecclesial communities; nor are they free
to hold that today the Church of Christ nowhere really exists, and must be
considered only as a goal which all Churches and ecclesial communities must
strive to reach”.64 In fact, “the elements of this already-given
Church exist, joined together in their fullness in the Catholic Church and,
without this fullness, in the other communities”.65 “Therefore,
these separated Churches and communities as such, though we believe they suffer
from defects, have by no means been deprived of significance and importance in
the mystery of salvation. For the spirit of Christ has not refrained from using
them as means of salvation which derive their efficacy from the very fullness
of grace and truth entrusted to the Catholic Church”.66
The lack of unity among Christians is certainly a wound for the Church; not in the sense
that she is deprived of her unity, but “in that it hinders the complete fulfilment
of her universality in history”.67
18. The mission
of the Church is “to proclaim and establish among all peoples the kingdom of
Christ and of God, and she is on earth, the seed and the beginning of that
kingdom”.68 On the one hand, the Church is “a sacrament — that is,
sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of unity of the entire human
race”.69 She is therefore the sign and instrument of the kingdom;
she is called to announce and to establish the kingdom. On the other hand, the
Church is the “people gathered by the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit”;70 she is therefore “the kingdom of Christ already present
in mystery”71 and constitutes its seed and beginning. The
kingdom of God, in fact, has an eschatological dimension: it is a reality
present in time, but its full realization will arrive only with the completion
or fulfilment of history.72
The meaning of the expressions kingdom of heaven, kingdom of God, and kingdom of Christ in Sacred Scripture and the Fathers of the
Church, as well as in the documents of the Magisterium, is not always exactly
the same, nor is their relationship to the Church, which is a mystery that
cannot be totally contained by a human concept. Therefore, there can be various
theological explanations of these terms. However, none of these possible
explanations can deny or empty in any way the intimate connection between
Christ, the kingdom, and the Church. In fact, the kingdom of God which we know
from revelation, “cannot be detached either from Christ or from the Church...
If the kingdom is separated from Jesus, it is no longer the kingdom of God
which he revealed. The result is a
distortion of the meaning of the kingdom, which runs the risk of being
transformed into a purely human or ideological goal and a distortion of the
identity of Christ, who no longer appears as the Lord to whom everything must
one day be subjected (cf. 1 Cor
15:27). Likewise, one may not separate the kingdom from the Church. It is true
that the Church is not an end unto herself, since she is ordered toward the
kingdom of God, of which she is the seed, sign and instrument. Yet, while
remaining distinct from Christ and the kingdom, the Church is indissolubly
united to both”.73
19. To state the inseparable relationship
between Christ and the kingdom is not to overlook the fact that the kingdom of
God — even if considered in its historical phase — is not identified with the
Church in her visible and social reality.
In fact, “the action of Christ and the Spirit outside the Church's
visible boundaries” must not be excluded.74 Therefore, one must also
bear in mind that “the kingdom is the concern of everyone: individuals, society
and the world. Working for the kingdom means acknowledging and promoting God's
activity, which is present in human history and transforms it. Building the
kingdom means working for liberation from evil in all its forms. In a word, the kingdom of God is the manifestation
and the realization of God's plan of salvation in all its fullness”.75
In considering the relationship between the kingdom of
God, the kingdom of Christ, and the Church, it is necessary to avoid one-sided
accentuations, as is the case with those “conceptions which deliberately
emphasize the kingdom and which describe themselves as ‘kingdom centred.' They
stress the image of a Church which is not concerned about herself, but which is
totally concerned with bearing witness to and serving the kingdom. It is a
‘Church for others,' just as Christ is the ‘man for others'... Together with
positive aspects, these conceptions often reveal negative aspects as well.
First, they are silent about Christ: the kingdom of which they speak is
‘theocentrically' based, since, according to them, Christ cannot be understood
by those who lack Christian faith, whereas different peoples, cultures, and
religions are capable of finding common ground in the one divine reality, by
whatever name it is called. For the same reason, they put great stress on the
mystery of creation, which is reflected in the diversity of cultures and
beliefs, but they keep silent about the mystery of redemption. Furthermore, the
kingdom, as they understand it, ends up either leaving very little room for the
Church or undervaluing the Church in reaction to a presumed ‘ecclesiocentrism'
of the past and because they consider the Church herself only a sign, for that
matter a sign not without ambiguity”.76 These theses are contrary to
Catholic faith because they deny the unicity of the relationship which Christ
and the Church have with the kingdom of God.
20. From what
has been stated above, some points follow that are necessary for theological
reflection as it explores the relationship of the Church and the other
religions to salvation.
Above all else, it must be firmly believed 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 (cf. Mk 16:16; Jn 3:5), and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the
Church which men enter through baptism as through a door”.77 This
doctrine must not be set against the universal salvific will of God (cf. 1 Tim 2:4); “it is necessary to keep
these two truths together, namely, the real possibility of salvation in Christ
for all mankind and the necessity of the Church for this salvation”.78
The Church is the “universal sacrament of salvation”,79
since, united always in a mysterious way to the Saviour Jesus Christ, her Head,
and subordinated to him, she has, in God's plan, an indispensable relationship
with the salvation of every human being.80 For those who are not formally and visibly members of the Church,
“salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a
mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the
Church, but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual
and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his
sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit”;81 it has a
relationship with the Church, which “according to the plan of the Father, has her
origin in the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit”.82
With respect to the way
in which the salvific grace of God — which is always given by means of Christ
in the Spirit and has a mysterious relationship to the Church — comes to
individual non-Christians, the Second Vatican Council limited itself to the
statement that God bestows it “in ways known to himself”.83 Theologians are seeking to understand this
question more fully. Their work is to
be encouraged, since it is certainly useful for understanding better God's
salvific plan and the ways in which it is accomplished. However, from what has
been stated above about the mediation of Jesus Christ and the “unique and
special relationship”84 which the Church has with the kingdom of God
among men — which in substance is the universal kingdom of Christ the Saviour —
it is clear that it would be contrary to the faith to consider the Church as one way of salvation alongside those
constituted by the other religions, seen as complementary to the Church or substantially
equivalent to her, even if these are said to be converging with the Church
toward the eschatological kingdom of God.
Certainly, the various religious traditions contain and
offer religious elements which come from God,85 and which are part
of what “the Spirit brings about in human hearts and in the history of peoples,
in cultures, and religions”.86 Indeed, some prayers and rituals of
the other religions may assume a role of preparation for the Gospel, in that
they are occasions or pedagogical helps in which the human heart is prompted to
be open to the action of God.87 One cannot attribute to these,
however, a divine origin or an ex opere
operato salvific efficacy, which is proper to the Christian sacraments.88
Furthermore, it cannot be overlooked that other rituals, insofar as they depend
on superstitions or other errors (cf. 1
Cor 10:20-21), constitute an obstacle to salvation.89
21. With the
coming of the Saviour Jesus Christ, God has willed that the Church founded by
him be the instrument for the salvation of all
humanity (cf. Acts 17:30-31).90
This truth of faith does not lessen the sincere respect which the Church has
for the religions of the world, but at the same time, it rules out, in a
radical way, that mentality of indifferentism “characterized by a religious
relativism which leads to the belief that ‘one religion is as good as
another'”.91 If it is true that the followers of other religions can
receive divine grace, it is also certain that objectively speaking they are in a gravely deficient situation in
comparison with those who, in the Church, have the fullness of the means of
salvation.92 However, “all
the children of the Church should nevertheless remember that their exalted
condition results, not from their own merits, but from the grace of Christ. If
they fail to respond in thought, word, and deed to that grace, not only shall
they not be saved, but they shall be more severely judged”.93 One
understands then that, following the Lord's command (cf. Mt 28:19-20) and as a requirement of her love for all people, the
Church “proclaims and is in duty bound to proclaim without fail, Christ who is
the way, the truth, and the life (Jn
14:6). In him, in whom God reconciled all things to himself (cf. 2 Cor 5:18-19), men find the fullness of
their religious life”.94
In inter-religious dialogue as well, the mission ad gentes “today as always retains its
full force and necessity”.95
“Indeed, God ‘desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of
the truth' (1 Tim 2:4); that is, God
wills the salvation of everyone through the knowledge of the truth. Salvation
is found in the truth. Those who obey the promptings of the Spirit of truth are
already on the way of salvation. But the Church, to whom this truth has been
entrusted, must go out to meet their desire, so as to bring them the truth.
Because she believes in God's universal plan of salvation, the Church must be
missionary”.96 Inter-religious dialogue, therefore, as part of her
evangelizing mission, is just one of the actions of the Church in her mission ad gentes.97 Equality, which is a presupposition of
inter-religious dialogue, refers to the equal personal dignity of the parties
in dialogue, not to doctrinal content, nor even less to the position of Jesus
Christ — who is God himself made man — in relation to the founders of the other
religions. Indeed, the Church, guided by charity and respect for freedom,98
must be primarily committed to proclaiming to all people the truth definitively
revealed by the Lord, and to announcing the necessity of conversion to Jesus
Christ and of adherence to the Church through Baptism and the other sacraments,
in order to participate fully in communion with God, the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. Thus, the certainty of the universal salvific will of God does not
diminish, but rather increases the duty and urgency of the proclamation of
salvation and of conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ.
23. The
intention of the present Declaration,
in reiterating and clarifying certain truths of the faith, has been to follow
the example of the Apostle Paul, who wrote to the faithful of Corinth: “I
handed on to you as of first importance what I myself received” (1 Cor 15:3). Faced with certain
problematic and even erroneous propositions, theological reflection is called
to reconfirm the Church's faith and to give reasons for her hope in a way that
is convincing and effective.
In treating the question of the true religion, the
Fathers of the Second Vatican Council taught: “We believe that this one true
religion continues to exist in the Catholic and Apostolic Church, to which the
Lord Jesus entrusted the task of spreading it among all people. Thus, he said
to the Apostles: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them
to observe all that I have commanded you' (Mt
28: 19-20). Especially in those things that concern God and his Church, all
persons are required to seek the truth, and when they come to know it, to
embrace it and hold fast to it”.99
The revelation of Christ will continue to be “the true
lodestar” 100 in history for all humanity: “The truth, which is
Christ, imposes itself as an all-embracing authority”. 101 The
Christian mystery, in fact, overcomes all barriers of time and space, and
accomplishes the unity of the human family: “From their different locations and
traditions all are called in Christ to share in the unity of the family of
God's children... Jesus destroys the walls of division and creates unity in a
new and unsurpassed way through our sharing in his mystery. This unity is so
deep that the Church can say with Saint Paul: ‘You are no longer strangers and
sojourners, but you are saints and members of the household of God' (Eph 2:19)”. 102
The Sovereign Pontiff John
Paul II, at the Audience of June 16, 2000, granted to the undersigned Cardinal
Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with sure knowledge
and by his apostolic authority, ratified and confirmed this Declaration,
adopted in Plenary Session and ordered its publication.
Rome,
from the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, August 6,
2000, the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
Joseph Card. Ratzinger
Prefect
Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B.
Archbishop Emeritus of Vercelli
Secretary
(1)
First Council of Constantinople, Symbolum Constantinopolitanum: DS 150.
(2)
Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 1: AAS 83 (1991), 249-340.
(3)
Cf. Second Vatican Council, Decree
Ad gentes and Declaration Nostra aetate; cf. also Paul VI Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi: AAS 68 (1976), 5-76; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio.
(4)
Second Vatican Council, Declaration
Nostra aetate, 2.
(5)
Pontifical Council for Inter-religious
Dialogue and the Congregation for
the Evangelization of Peoples, Instruction Dialogue and Proclamation, 29: AAS
84 (1992), 424; cf. Second Vatican
Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium
et spes, 22.
(6)
Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 55: AAS 83 (1991), 302-304.
(7)
Cf. Pontifical Council for
Inter-religious Dialogue and the
Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Instruction Dialogue and Proclamation, 9: AAS 84 (1992), 417ff.
(8)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Fides et ratio, 5: AAS 91 (1999), 5-88.
(9)
Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Dei verbum, 2.
(10)
Ibid., 4.
(11)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 5.
(12)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Fides et ratio, 14.
(13)
Council of Chalcedon, Symbolum Chalcedonense: DS 301; cf. St. Athanasius, De
Incarnatione, 54, 3: SC 199, 458.
(14)
Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Dei verbum, 4.
(15)
Ibid., 5.
(16)
Ibid.
(17)
Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church,
144.
(18)
Ibid., 150.
(19)
Ibid., 153.
(20)
Ibid., 178.
(21)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Fides et ratio, 13.
(22)
Cf. ibid., 31-32.
(23)
Second Vatican Council, Declaration
Nostra aetate, 2; cf. Second Vatican Council, Decree Ad gentes, 9, where it speaks of the elements
of good present “in the particular customs and cultures of peoples”; Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen gentium, 16, where
it mentions the elements of good and of truth present among non-Christians,
which can be considered a preparation for the reception of the Gospel.
(24)
Cf. Council of Trent, Decretum de libris sacris et de
traditionibus recipiendis: DS 1501;
First Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Dei Filius, cap. 2: DS 3006.
(25)
Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Dei verbum, 11.
(26)
Ibid.
(27)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 55; cf. 56 and Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi, 53.
(28)
First Council of Nicaea, Symbolum Nicaenum: DS 125.
(29)
Council of Chalcedon, Symbolum Chalcedonense: DS 301.
(30)
Second Vatican Council, Pastoral
Constitution Gaudium et spes, 22.
(31)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 6.
(32)
Cf. St. Leo the Great, Tomus ad Flavianum: DS 294.
(33)
Cf. St. Leo the Great, Letter to
the Emperor Leo I Promisisse me memini:
DS 318: “...in tantam unitatem ab ipso conceptu Virginis deitate et humanitate
conserta, ut nec sine homine divina, nec sine Deo agerentur humana”. Cf.
also ibid. DS 317.
(34)
Second Vatican Council, Pastoral
Constitution Gaudium et spes, 45; cf.
also Council of Trent, Decretum de peccato originali, 3: DS 1513.
(35)
Cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen gentium, 3‑4.
(36)
Cf. ibid., 7; cf. St. Irenaeus, who wrote that it is in
the Church “that communion with Christ has been deposited, that is to say: the
Holy Spirit” (Adversus haereses III,
24, 1: SC 211, 472).
(37)
Second Vatican Council, Pastoral
Constitution Gaudium et spes, 22.
(38)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 28. For the “seeds
of the Word” cf. also St. Justin Martyr,
Second Apology 8, 1-2; 10,
1-3; 13, 3-6: ed. E.J. Goodspeed, 84; 85; 88-89.
(39)
Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter, Redemptoris missio, 28-29.
(40)
Ibid., 29.
(41)
Ibid., 5.
(42)
Second Vatican Council, Pastoral
Constitution Gaudium et spes, 10. Cf.
St. Augustine, who wrote that Christ is the way, which “has never been lacking
to mankind... and apart from this way no one has been set free, no one is being
set free, no one will be set free” De
civitate Dei 10, 32, 2: CCSL 47,
312.
(43)
Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen gentium, 62.
(44)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 5.
(45)
Second Vatican Council, Pastoral
Constitution Gaudium et spes, 45. The
necessary and absolute singularity of Christ in human history is well expressed
by St. Irenaeus in contemplating the preeminence of Jesus as firstborn Son: “In
the heavens, as firstborn of the Father's counsel, the perfect Word governs and
legislates all things; on the earth, as firstborn of the Virgin, a man just and
holy, reverencing God and pleasing to God, good and perfect in every way, he
saves from hell all those who follow him since he is the firstborn from the
dead and Author of the life of God” (Demonstratio
apostolica, 39: SC 406, 138).
(46)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 6.
(47)
Cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen gentium, 14.
(48)
Cf. ibid., 7.
(49)
Cf. St. Augustine, Enarratio in Psalmos, Ps. 90, Sermo 2,1: CCSL 39, 1266; St. Gregory
the Great, Moralia in Iob,
Praefatio, 6, 14: PL 75, 525; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, III, q. 48, a. 2 ad 1.
(50)
Cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen gentium, 6.
(51)
Symbolum maius Ecclesiae Armeniacae: DS 48. Cf. Boniface VIII, Unam
sanctam: DS 870-872; Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen gentium, 8.
(52)
Cf. Second Vatican Council, Decree
Unitatis redintegratio, 4; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Ut unum sint, 11: AAS 87 (1995), 927.
(53)
Cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen gentium, 20; cf.
also St. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses, III, 3, 1-3: SC 211, 20-44; St. Cyprian, Epist.
33, 1: CCSL 3B, 164-165; St. Augustine, Contra adver. legis et prophet., 1, 20, 39: CCSL 49, 70.
(54)
Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen gentium, 8.
(55)
Ibid.; cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Ut unum sint, 13. Cf. also Second
Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 15 and the Decree Unitatis redintegratio, 3.
(56)
The interpretation of those who would derive from the formula subsistit in the thesis that the one
Church of Christ could subsist also in non-Catholic Churches and ecclesial
communities is therefore contrary to the authentic meaning of Lumen gentium. “The Council instead
chose the word subsistit precisely to
clarify that there exists only one ‘subsistence' of the true Church, while
outside her visible structure there only exist elementa Ecclesiae, which — being elements of that same Church —
tend and lead toward the Catholic Church” (Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, Notification
on the Book “Church: Charism and Power” by Father Leonardo Boff: AAS 77 [1985], 756-762).
(57)
Second Vatican Council, Decree Unitatis redintegratio, 3.
(58)
Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, Declaration Mysterium
Ecclesiae, 1: AAS 65 (1973),
396-398.
(59)
Cf. Second Vatican Council, Decree
Unitatis redintegratio, 14 and 15; Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter
Communionis notio, 17: AAS 85 (1993), 848.
(60)
Cf. First Vatican Council, Constitution
Pastor aeternus: DS 3053-3064; Second Vatican
Council, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen
gentium, 22.
(61)
Cf. Second Vatican Council, Decree
Unitatis redintegratio, 22.
(62)
Cf. ibid., 3.
(63)
Cf. ibid., 22.
(64)
Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, Declaration Mysterium
Ecclesiae, 1.
(65)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Ut unum sint, 14.
(66)
Second Vatican Council, Decree Unitatis redintegratio, 3.
(67)
Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, Letter Communionis notio,
17; cf. Second Vatican Council, Decree
Unitatis redintegratio, 4.
(68)
Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen gentium, 5.
(69)
Ibid., 1.
(70)
Ibid., 4. Cf. St. Cyprian, De
Dominica oratione 23: CCSL 3A,
105.
(71)
Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen gentium, 3.
(72)
Cf. ibid., 9; cf. also the prayer
addressed to God found in the Didache
9,4: SC 248, 176: “May the Church be
gathered from the ends of the earth into your kingdom” and ibid. 10, 5: SC 248, 180:
“Remember, Lord, your Church... and, made holy, gather her together from the
four winds into your kingdom which you have prepared for her”.
(73)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 18; cf. Apostolic
Exhortation Ecclesia in Asia, 17: L'Osservatore Romano (November 7,
1999). The kingdom is so inseparable from Christ that, in a certain sense, it
is identified with him (cf. Origen, In Mt. Hom., 14, 7: PG 13, 1197; Tertullian, Adversus Marcionem, IV, 33,8: CCSL 1, 634.
(74)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 18.
(75)
Ibid., 15.
(76)
Ibid., 17.
(77)
Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen gentium, 14; cf.
Decree Ad gentes, 7; Decree Unitatis redintegratio, 3.
(78)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 9; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church,
846-847.
(79)
Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen gentium, 48.
(80)
Cf. St. Cyprian, De catholicae ecclesiae unitate, 6: CCSL 3, 253-254; St. Irenaeus, Adversus
haereses, III, 24, 1: SC 211,
472-474.
(81)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 10.
(82)
Second Vatican Council, Decree Ad gentes, 2. The famous formula extra Ecclesiam nullus omnino salvatur
is to be interpreted in this sense (cf. Fourth
Lateran Council, Cap. 1. De fide
catholica: DS 802). Cf. also the Letter of the Holy Office to the Archbishop
of Boston: DS 3866-3872.
(83)
Second Vatican Council, Decree Ad gentes, 7.
(84)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 18.
(85)
These are the seeds of the divine Word (semina
Verbi), which the Church recognizes with joy and respect (cf. Second
Vatican Council, Decree Ad gentes,
11; Declaration Nostra aetate, 2).
(86)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 29.
(87)
Cf. ibid.; Catechism of the Catholic
Church, 843.
(88)
Cf. Council of Trent, Decretum de sacramentis, can. 8, de sacramentis in genere: DS 1608.
(89)
Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 55.
(90)
Cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen gentium, 17; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 11.
(91)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 36.
(92)
Cf. Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Mystici corporis: DS 3821.
(93)
Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen gentium, 14.
(94)
Second Vatican Council, Declaration
Nostra aetate, 2.
(95)
Second Vatican Council, Decree Ad gentes, 7.
(96)
Catechism of the Catholic Church,
851; cf. also 849-856.
(97)
Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 55;
Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Asia,
31.
(98)
Cf. Second Vatican Council, Declaration
Dignitatis humanae, 1.
(99)
Ibid.
(100)
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Fides et ratio, 15.
(101)
Ibid., 92.
(102)
Ibid., 70.
October
03, 2001 Copyright © by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops