841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."[330]
Footnote 330 refers to Lumen Gentium, (DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH), POPE PAUL VI, November 21, 1964, section 16:
16. ... But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place amongst these there are the Mohamedans, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind.
Also, NOSTRA AETATE, (DECLARATION ON THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS), POPE PAUL VI, October 28, 1965, section 3:
3. The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth,(5) who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God.
Based on such, an implication is thus seen by some that Muslims are saved by their recognition and worship of the true creator and their Abrahamic faith.
In contrast to the above would be such solemn declarations as,
“We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” (Pope Boniface VIII, the Bull Unam Sanctam, 302.).
.“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.” (Pope Eugene IV, the Bull Cantate Domino, 1441.) – from the website Catholicism.org and “No Salvation outside the Church”: Link List, the Three Dogmatic Statements
V2 addressed the issue of extra ecclesiam nulla salus (Outside the Church there is no salvation), and in the Catechism it basically teaches that this refers to Rome as materially providing for salvation, while only excluding those who know, who are convinced she is the OTC, and yet reject her:
846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?[335] Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body: 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.[336]
847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church: Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.[337]
This absolves those who are convinced she is not, but have been baptized in Christian faith. Of course, Rome also taught in Dominus Iesus (2000), that Protestant “ecclesial communities … cannot be called ‘Churches’ in the proper sense.” and in "Responses to some questions regarding certain aspects of the doctrine on the church, " the “Congregation for the doctrine of the faith” stated that such are considered defective in grace, though the contrary is manifest.
Thank you for at least posting from Catholic sources. I will leave it to the Catholics to comment on your commentary.
Thanks for posting that.
We ex-Catholics know what we were taught and what our fellow Catholics believes, and still believe and that confirms that the Catholics church is very specific and to the point that it and it alone is required for salvation.
(1) Authoritative Catholic documents (like the ones you cited) do not express respect for, or find salvific effectiveness, in Islam (a religious system), but express respect for Muslims (people). And which Muslims? Explicitly, respect for those who in all honesty worship "the God of Abraham," "the Creator of all things."
This is whom they claim to worship. Each person's genuineness in this, where they'll go with it, and their ultimate spiritual state (like yours and mine), is known only to God.
A Turkish girl I knew in DC used to come to meetings of a Catholic University group (it was Comunione e Liberazione), and felt drawn to C+L because she felt she revered Jesus and worshiped the same God that we do ---while simultaneously, she opined that God "did not have an 'only-begotten Son,'" which means she was objectively not a Christian, let alone a Catholic.
Confused? It's not you that's confused, it's this sweet Turkish girl who was confused (and ignorant); and yet one can love her and her reverence for the Creator, while at the same time firmly rejecting the errors of the Koran.
It is just this distinction that the Catechism would make: loving persons, affirming the truths that they do believe, "God of Abraham," "Creator of all things," (garbled and fragmentary though those truths may be), while inviting them to discover the real and living Jesus Christ, the savior of all mankind.
Check this out: see if Catholic Magisterial documents recommend respect for Muslims, which is one thing, or for Islam, which is quite another.
Sometimes its hard to keep this distinction sharp and clear, but that's what we're trying to find ways to do.
(2) About the use of the word "Church." It has different meanings in different contexts, just as "love" means something different Lennon-McCartney, in Ephesians, and in tennis.
The Catholic Church uses "Church" in its ecclesiological writings to mean "the baptized faithful and their bishop." Thus in Catholic parlance, "the local Church" = "the Diocese" and "particular Churches" = the autonomous, self-governing Churches, with their own bishops, which are in communion with the Bishop of Rome Eastern Catholic Churches (Link).
This is not meant to denigrate others of Christ's faithful as being "not Christians" --- far from it --- but to clarify that, in our context, they are not "gathered around their bishop" and thus are not members of the Church in the sense used in our ecclesial documents.
It certainly doesn't mean they're "not saved" or that they're "damned." In a rather famous case, a Boston priest who used to say "Non-Catholics are going to hell," was excommunicated for his "grave disobedience" and his refusal to accept the Church's own understanding of Catholic teachings.
Again, saying such-and-such a worship fellowship is "not a Church," this is not a denigration. It's a definition. There are other definitions for other senses of the word. For instance, we hold that eveyone who is baptized is a Catholic in this sense: that they have received the Sacrament of initiation into the Church (and oh man, can that lead to arguments!)
But I hope I can still lovingly regard all baptized people (including arguers) as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Anyway it's always helpful, in perplexity, to specify the context (Canon law? Ecclesial status of congregations? City zoning ordinance?) and to clarify what definition one is using in that context.
Thank you for your patience.
On the other hand there does seem to be a checkmate system between various Christian denominations...though they may differ on the minors the major doctrines are in agreement..and if a certain denomination goes off course in their leadership the church on a whole seems to step up and call them out on it...if the congregational boards fail to do so.