Vatican: Sorry! Atheists can’t go to heaven, after all

The author writes: “This means that all salvation comes from Christ, the Head, through the Church which is his body. Hence they cannot be saved who, knowing the Church as founded by Christ and necessary for salvation, would refuse to enter her or remain in her. At the same time, thanks to Christ and to his Church, those who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ and his Church but sincerely seek God and, moved by grace, try to do his will as it is known through the dictates of conscience can attain eternal salvation”

So how is this better than what the Pope originally said? And I am pretty sure the bible mentions something about those “Who sincerely seeks God?” .. not one does says the scripture. “Through no fault of their own” they don’t know the Gospel, really?

If this is backtracking on behalf of the Pope he may need to hire some new folks to do that for him.

A related blog post

This statement from Francis’ spokesman is telling: “This means that all salvation comes from Christ, the Head, through the Church which is his body. Hence they cannot be saved who, knowing the Church as founded by Christ and necessary for salvation, would refuse to enter her or remain in her. At the same time, thanks to Christ and to his Church, those who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ and his Church but sincerely seek God and, moved by grace, try to do his will as it is known through the dictates of conscience can attain eternal salvation”

I am on the road and away from my computer that contains everything I know (and probably more)! But that statement from the Vatican is very much like the pronouncement of Vatican II. It may not be a direct quote, but it closely reflects it. www.vatican.va is the official website and the statements of Vatican II are there. I don’t remember exactly the section, but that statement is quite similar to what Paul VI propounded through Vatican II. It is also reflective of the Catechism which is also on that website.

It is a minor backtrack from all-out universalism to inclusivism. It’s perhaps the difference between John Hicks and Clark Pinnock. Either way, it’s not supported by Scripture.

Fred Moritz is right. This was written in Vatican II, which essentially made Catholic doctrine more understandable (acceptable?) to the modern world. Newspapers and other media outlets love to take snippets of papal speeches and try to make them something ground-breaking, or even earth-shattering. But what Pope Francis stated was really nothing new. The Catholic Catechism (1995, for which the “conservative” Pope Benedict was most responsible) already states that there are those in the Muslim faith who will be saved, as well as those from other religions. There are many who are unenlightened about salvation, “through no fault of their own.” The Catholic Church still maintains the doctrine, “no salvation outside the church.” Those who knowingly reject the teachings of the Catholic Church will be damned. A careful reading of the “Explanatory note,” referred to above, makes this clear as well.