Some people claim that the Second Vatican Council reversed previous Church teaching
that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church.The Catholic position on “no salvation outside the Church” has not
changed.What Vatican II sought to do is
clarify the meaning more precisely, as I will now briefly attempt to do.
If Jesus is God, and He left us the Catholic Church as His instrument of salvation on
earth, then we cannot of ourselves create some other means of salvation than the one God
gave us.In other words, we can’t say to
God:“Thanks for your plan, but
I’ll do it my own way.”What
Vatican II had to say on the subject was that some
have a saving communion with the Church even if they don’t have an intellectual
understanding of such.In other words, they
are members of the Church, albeit in an imperfect way, but are not within the visible confines of the Church.
Vatican II said that if a person is, through no fault of their own,
ignorant of the fact that the Catholic Church is the true Church, such a person may
attain salvation although they are in an impoverished situation.A person who knows the Catholic
Church is true and refuses to embrace the Catholic faith would be accountable for the
refusal of God’s plan of salvation.
In short, God doesn’t hold us accountable for what we are innocently
ignorant of.He will hold us
accountable if we know and refuse, or purposely choose to deny, the light given us and
remain in ignorance.
