Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches 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, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.
Actually, according to that, you know that Bill Gates is not saved, and actually neither am I as I refuse to be a part of the Catholic Church.
Do you deny that the Catholic Church teaches that a person that hears the gospel and rejects it will still be saved?
The Catholic Church teaches that only God is our judge. We teach that certain sins and circumstances put one in jeopardy of eternal damnation. Mortal sins put your soul into a condition that may make it impossible for you to be accepted into heaven. However, only God, who knows every fiber of your being, can sift the mercy and blame in judgment.
The Church does not condemn people, only actions. We leave it up to God to judge and we refrain from judging others. As the passage you quoted from the Catechism says, if you truly and absolutely know in your heart that the Catholic Church is the one, true Church founded by Christ and you deliberately turn your back on it, you would be, in essence, turning your back on Christ and you would risk your salvation. That is why Catholics are so sad to hear that some of us make the choice to leave the Church.
Still, only God will be the judge of all the circumstances that caused a person to leave the one, true Church. He will determine the level of understanding the person had when they were making that decision. He will know the level of commitment and spirituality of that individual soul and judge accordingly. We believe God is not only just, but merciful. The balance between the two is God’s alone to know. We do not know everything about the mind of God. Faith is a gift and the gifts of the Spirit are meted out individually according to God’s plan. Some people do not receive the gift of discernment. Is that their fault?
We do not know if Bill Gates, you, me, a pagan, an aborted baby, or Hitler will definitely be saved. But we do know that at the moment of judgment, God will sift each soul fairly and mercifully at the same time. I personally think that God will not reject aborted babies, pagans who never had the opportunity to hear a good argument for believing in Christ, or the mentally ill. There could also be scenarios in which a person heard the Gospel and lived a bad life, but in the last moment of his life he sacrificed himself to save an innocent person (”Greater love hath no man than to give up his life for another.”) and God might value that moment of supreme love and goodness more than anything else. We don’t know.
We do know the Good Shepherd searches for each soul until the very last moment and is watching and waiting for the lost sheep with love and anxiety. We know that if we turn to Christ with our last breath, He will be there holding out His arms to us in acceptance. If Bill Gates, you, I, or Hitler do that, how can we know what God will do? Remember, there are many rooms in Heaven.
Christ is the doorway to Heaven. It is a source of concern to Catholics that many Protestants see being “saved” as such a black and white issue. All things are possible with God— even loving, undeserved mercy. Christ was merciful and understanding, many times, to those no one thought deserved it. He delighted in loving the most hated, most reviled, most public sinners.
All these reasons are why the Catholic Church says we do not judge; only God can judge each individual. We leave it to Him. I hope I answered your question.