Hindu Catholic Dialogue Commemorative Brochure 20150523

Author(s): United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Publisher: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

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12. Do followers of other religions merit salvation? Scripture asserts that “God wills all to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth” (I Timothy 2:4). God has also provided the means by people can come to know the truth and be saved. That means is the person of Jesus Christ, who is made known in various ways by the preaching, teaching, and witness of the Church. Although there are many definitions of salvation among the religions of the world, all of them highlighting what each religion believes to be the final goal of all human striving, the Catholic Church believes that the only salvation that God has revealed for human beings is that which God has given us through Jesus Christ. This is why the Catholic Church teaches that “outside the Church there is no salvation." There is no salvation other than that which God alone gives us in Christ, and the means established by God to make that salvation available in the world is the Church. It is understood, however, that not everyone encounters Christ and the Church in the course of a lifetime. The Second Vatican Council taught that those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ and 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.” (Lumen Gentium 16).
13. How important is it to try to convert others to this faith? The Church has been given a mission from God to make Jesus Christ known to everyone, and to invite people to belief and full communion. The ultimate purpose of the Church's mission is to enable people to share in the communion of love that is the very life of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (cf. Catechism #850). It is therefore very important for Catholic Christians to let other people know, in appropriate and respectful ways, who Jesus is, and what the Church is in God's plan of salvation for all people. 14. What is the attitude toward followers who choose to change to another faith?
Those persons 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” cannot be saved (Lumen Gentium 14). Thus, before and since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has always formally taught that if a person leaves the Church, they lose the grace of salvation that God offered them within the Church. The Catholic Church deems this to be a very serious sin, called “apostasy,” that automatically separates a person from the spiritual benefits of being "one in Christ” with those who believe. Leaving the Church is a cause of great distress to the family and friends of those who make this choice.
COMMEMORATIVE BROCHURE
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