The statement "Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus" expresses in formula form the constant teaching of the Roman Catholic Church concerning the importance of the Church for the economy of salvation. That there is " No Salvation Outside the Church" is dogma that the Church herself puts forth as part of divine public revelation and which all Catholics are obliged to accept with the assent of divine faith. Origen (185-254 A.D.) and Cyprian (200/210-258 A.D.) were the first Fathers of the Church to utilize the formula "No Salvation Outside the Church" both in their preaching and writing. The formula was directed towards those who were in the Church or who were in danger of being separated from her through either heresy or schism. Origen has been credited with being the first to introduce this warning. Cyprian, on the other hand, was the one who used this axiom most frequently during the third century.

             Various popes throughout the centuries, together with the Magisterium have published at least eleven documents that deal specifically with the phrase " Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus". These are: The Profession of Faith issued by the Fourth Lateran Council (1215 A.D.- Pope Innocent III), the Bull "Unam Sanctam" (November 18, 1302 A.D.- Pope Boniface VIII), the Bull "Cantate Domino"(February 4,1442 A.D.- Pope Eugenius IV), the Allocution "Singulari Quandam" (December 9, 1854 A.D.- Pope Pius IX), the Encyclical "Quanto conficiamur moerore" (August 10, 1863 A.D.- Pope Pius IX), the Encyclical "Mystici Corporis Christi" (June 29, 1943 A.D.- Pope Pius XII), the letter "Suprema haec sacra" (August 8, 1949 A.D.- Holy Office on the request of Pope Pius XII to Archbishop Richard J. Cushing of Boston), the Encyclical "Humani Generis" (August 12, 1950 A.D.- Pope Pius XII), Vatican II documents "Unitatis Redintegratio" and "Lumen Gentium" (November 21, 1964 A.D.- Pope Paul VI) and finally the Ecclesiastical Document Catechism of the Catholic Church (October 11, 1992 A.D.- on the request of the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops to John Paul II, January 25, 1985 A.D.). More recently, (1994 A.D.) John Paul II discusses this same issue in his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope. All these writings teach the correct meaning and interpretation of the axiom "No Salvation Outside the Church".

               This essay will attempt to briefly put forth the Catholic Church's teaching on this matter, with specific references made to a few of the above mentioned documents and discuss interpretive tendencies (doctrinal literalism and religious indifferentism), which can lead to an erroneous understanding of this teaching.

                Salvation is a universal calling to men and women of all time to accept the liberation from all sin and evil, accomplished by Christ through his suffering, death and resurrection (Jn16:33). The core of Apostolic teaching is that only Jesus Christ saves (Acts4:9-12) and all men are called to accept His salvific act and become His people. As the Second Vatican Council teaches "All men are called to belong to the new people of God".1 This liberation from sin and evil moves us toward everlasting life and happiness.

Happiness springs from the knowledge of the truth from the vision of God face to face [Beatific Vision] from sharing in His life.²

                To share in God's life means that one must accept Christ's liberating action done on our behalf (Rom5;8) and struggle against the powers of sin and evil brought to bear on our daily lives. As Gerald O'Collins points out in his book Interpreting Jesus, " Recipients must become agents". ³ As agents of redemption, final liberation will be achieved after death if certain conditions and requirements have been satisfied. These are: true belief and faith in God (Mk16:16, Heb11:6), baptism (Mk16:16) which makes us members in the Church, formal membership in the Church itself, which is identified with the apostolic community (Lk10:16) as well as good works (Jas2:14) and the practice of the three theological virtues of faith, hope and charity (1Thes5:8).

                The nature of church is understood by sacred scripture through the use of metaphors. Among these metaphors are the Spouse of Christ (Eph5:26, 2Cor11:2) and the Body of Christ (Eph1:22, Col1:18). In the Encyclical Letter of Pius XII, "Mystici Corporis" the Pope expounds at great length on the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ. The church is a body because it is visible and mystical and because it cannot be exhaustively defined. This same document identifies the Mystical Body of Christ not with any church but relates this term to the "... true Church of Jesus Christ - which is the One, Holy Catholic, Apostolic Roman Church".⁴

The Church, therefore, is intimately connected with Christ himself and is necessary for salvation.

For it is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the all embracing means of salvation that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained.⁵

This is again repeated in the Vatican II document "Lumen Gentium".

Basing itself upon Sacred Scripture and tradition, it teaches that the Church, now sojourning on earth as an exile, is necessary for salvation.⁶

               "The Church is necessary for salvation" has the same import of meaning as the classical axiom "No salvation outside the Church". Both statements emphasize the importance of the Church in matters pertaining to salvation. The document "Lumen Gentium" also makes it very clear that the visible social structure of the Church, with its hierarchical agencies and the Mystical Body of Christ are one reality, both human and divine, whose model for understanding is the Incarnation itself.

But the society furnished with hierarchical agencies and the Mystical Body of Christ are not to be considered as two realities, nor the earthly Church the Church enriched with heavenly things. Rather they form one interlocked reality, which is comprised of a divine and a human element. For this reason by an excellent analogy is compared to the mystery of the incarnate word. ⁷

                 Therefore, in order for an individual to come into contact with Christ, in a very real way, and experience His salvific power, he must come into contact with the Mystical Body of Christ - His Church. Pope Pius IX in his Encyclical "Quanto conficiamur moerore" made it very clear that it is" a very grave error [to believe] that men separated from the true faith and from Catholic unity, can attain eternal life". ⁸

                 Those who are separated from " the true faith and Catholic unity" are those who refuse formal membership in the Catholic Church. Formal membership includes those who are fully incorporated in it (in re) as well as those who are related to it in some specified manner. In "Lumen Gentium no. 14 fully incorporated members of the Catholic Church are those

who possessing the Spirit of Christ accept her entire system and all the means of salvation given to her through union with her visible structure are joined to Christ, who rules her through the SupremePontiff and the bishops.⁹

                 This document of Vatican II goes on to say that the joining of the above characteristics is brought about by the ties of the profession of faith, the Sacraments (which includes Baptism), ecclesiastical government and communion, which resembles the communion of the Trinity. These requirements must also be accompanied by true charity,which is understood in terms of intention rather than velleity. An absence of true charity nullifies one from the sphere of salvation since one remains in the Church "in body but not in heart".¹⁰

                  Membership in the Church also includes those fellow baptized Christians, who for one reason or another do not profess the faith in its entirety or may not acknowledge the Apostolic Succession through the chair of Peter. These, the Council teaches, are not fully incorporated but are "...joined with us in the Holy Spirit" .¹¹ The Catholic Church prays for these separated brethern so that they too may one day be fully incorporated into the Mystical Body of Christ. The Holy Office Letter "Suprema haec sacra" states that

...no one will be saved who knowing the Church to have been divinely established by Christ, nevertheless refuses to submit to the Church or withholds obedience from the Roman Pontiff, the Vicar of Christ on earth. ¹²

The operative word here is knowing. Once knowledge is attained with regards to true faith and true Church, acting correctly on that knowledge becomes requisite for salvation.

                Formal membership in the Catholic Church can also include those who are related to the Church. These would include non-Christian believers in God and other people of goodwill. Their formal membership in the Church is by virtue of desiring (in voto) or willing to be in it. This desire (votum) of entering the Church, to be effective, can be explicit, as is the case with catechumens, or it can be implicit. Among those implicitly desiring formal membership may be the invincibly ignorant. If those who are invincibly ignorant are cooperating with divine grace, observing the natural law, in the state of sanctifying grace and have true faith and charity they too can obtain salvation.

It is known to us and to you that they who labour in invicible ignorance of our most holy religion and who, zealously keeping the natural law and its precepts engraved in the hearts of all by God, and being ready to obey God, live an honest and upright life, can, by the operating power of divine light and grace attain eternal life, since God who clearly knows the minds and souls, thought and habits of all men because of His great goodness and mercy will by no means be punished with eternal torment who has not the guilt of deliberate sin. ¹³

                 As John Paul II states in his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope "both these dimensions are important for salvation...". ¹⁴ That is, when speaking of salvation within the context of formal membership in the Church one must include both membership in the Church for Christians ( those who are fully incorporated in it) and also those who are in some specified manner related to the Church. This is precisely what John Paul II means when he says that people are saved through the Church (those related to it in some specified manner) and in the Church (those who are members in the Church). It is important to remember that regardless of the group or category of formal membership in the Church people "...are saved through the Church, they are saved in the Church, but they are always saved by the grace of Christ". ¹⁵ This then is the correct understanding of "Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus".

                 Erroneous understandings of the formula "No Salvation Outside the Church", essentially fall into two categories : doctrinal literalism and religious indifferentism.

                 The letter "Suprema haec sacra" (August 8,1949) sent to Archbishop Cushing of Boston by Pope Pius XII dealt specifically with Fr. Leonard Feeney. Fr. Feeney (1897-1978), a chaplain at St. Benedict's Centre in Boston, Massachusetts, insisted on interpreting the axiom "Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Sallus" in a strictly literal sense. He firmly held that the Roman Catholic Church was absolutely necessary for salvation with the stipulation that one had to be fully incorporated in it in order to be saved. Explicit desire, as in the case of catechumens or the implicit desire of an invincibly ignorant person were flatly rejected by Fr. Feeney as being part of authentic Catholic dogma. For this literal hard line stance, Fr. Feeney was dismissed from the Society of Jesus in 1949. St. Benedict's Centre was placed under the care of Archbishop Cushing and in 1952 Fr. Feeney was excommunicated from the Catholic Church. His excommunication was directly related to his persistent refusal to visit Rome and discuss the entire issue with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. To him, the entire teaching body of the Church was considered to be teaching heresy.

                  In his book On Being A Christian Hans Kung states that "...the Second Vatican Council [contrary to the Bull "Cantate Domino"] conceded freedom of religion and belief". ¹⁶ He bases his assertion on "a specific declaration on the subject"¹⁷ and together with the Vatican II document "Lumen Gentium" concludes that "now apparently the religions as such are also regarded as possible ways to salvation". ¹⁸

                  Kung is twice wrong in his arguements. First, the Catholic Church does not teach and has never taught that "other religions as such are also regarded as possible ways to salvation". If this were so it would undermine its own position that it is necessary for salvation from both the necessity of precept and from the necessity of means. The "specific declararion on the subject" Kung is referring to is the Vatican II document "Declaration on Religious Freedom" (Dignitatis Humanae"- December 7,1965). This document in no way implies or directly states "the religions can be regarded as possible ways to salvation". In actual fact, what it states is contrary to what Kung infers.

We believe that this one true religion subsists in the Catholic and Apostolic Church, to which the Lord Jesus committed the duty of spreading it abroad among all men. (Mt28:19-20) ¹⁹

The religious freedom Kung fails to mention is not freedom to believe what one wants to believe, but freedom from coercion regarding religious matters.

Religious freedom in turn, which men demand as necessary to fulfill their duty to worship God has to do with immunity from coercion in civil society.²⁰

The document then goes on to state:

Therefore, it leaves untouched traditional Catholic doctrine on the moral duty of men and societies toward the true religion and toward the one Church in Christ. ²¹

                  The position Hans Kung takes leads ultimately to an erroneous understanding of the role that the Catholic Church plays in the realm of salvation. It undermines it with a view of religious indifferentism. This type of religious indifferentism was already expounded on by Pius IX in his allocution "Singulari Quandam" (December 9, 1854) as the "...equally fatal opinion, namely that the way of salvation can be found in any religion whatsoever". ²²

                  The views of Feeney and Kung fail to do justice to the teachings of the Church. The infallible dogma that there is "No Salvation Outside the Church" has been constantly reasserted by the Magisterium. The body of Church teaching listed at the beginning of this essay shows the Church's concern with proving and explaining that such views are incompatible with the Church's understanding of salvation. The Church specifies the conditions or requirements of salvation. It does so by virtue of God's revelation which is to be found in the sacred sources of scripture and tradition preserved and taught by the Magisterium of the Church.

                   The Church does not have the divine command or privilege to make judgements concerning the salvation of specific individuals or groups. Salvation is ultimately a gift from God who alone can see and know, through His divine mercy and justice, if an individual is to receive this gift of everlasting life. As Pope Pius IX stated in his allocution "Singulari Quandam"

...when loosed from these bodily bonds we see God as He is (1Jn3:2), we shall certainly understand with what intimate and beautiful a connection the divine mercy and justice are joined together..." ²³

ENDNOTES

¹"Lumen Gentium", The Documents of Vatican II, p.32.

² Pope John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope edited by Vittorio Messori (Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 1994), p.73.