[drstevej]

***True religion teaches not exclusion***

YET...

"I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by Me." -- Jesus

"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." -- Peter

[conservonator]

I think meant to convey the fact that none are excluded form the opportunity of membership in the church, rather than membership is not required.

[RobbyS]

This Church has inherited from Christ, the Apostles and her living tradition, a non-negotiable body of doctrine on faith and morals. The tenets of the Catholic faith do not change according to the play of market forces, majority votes or opinion polls. "Jesus Christ is the same today as he was yesterday and as he will be for ever" (Heb13:8). This is the Church which St. Ignatius invites all his spiritual children to love and cherish. This is the Church to which we have the joy to belong.

[kitkat]

***YET...

"I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by Me." -- Jesus

"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." -- Peter***

A simple explantion of the above:


Vatican I, Pius IX:
“We must hold as of the faith, that out of the Apostolic Roman Church there is no salvation; that she is the only ark of safety, and whosoever is not in her perishes in the deluge; we must also, on the other hand, recognize with certainty that those who are invincible in ignorance of the true religion are not guilty for this in the eyes of the Lord. And who would presume to mark out the limits of this ignorance according to the character and diversity of peoples, countries, minds and the rest?”

A shorter explanation is that when the Church says that IF you believe the Catholic Church to be the true one and do not practice your faith, then you are doomed.

Notice the capital IF.

If, on the other hand, you believe sincerely in some other religion, then you must in conscience practice it.