On the far left in Catholicism, we find the heresy that all human persons will be saved, all go to Heaven, and none go to Hell. See my previous post against universalism. To the contrary, it is clear from Tradition, Scripture, and many magisterial teachings that some human persons go to Hell. We don’t know the percentages, but the number is not small who face eternal punishment in Hell.

On the far right in Catholicism, we find the heresy that only Catholics can possibly be saved; this is the heresy of Feeneyism. Many far right Catholics today openly defend Fr. Leonard Feeney and his heresy on salvation. A similar heresy claims that only Catholics and other Christians can possibly be saved. These ideas on salvation are contrary to Church teaching.

I’ll give one example of Church teaching on the broadness of salvation. For more, see my book: Forgiveness and Salvation for Everyone.

Pope Saint John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio:
“10. The universality of salvation means that it is granted not only to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the Church. Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to all. But it is clear that today, as in the past, many people do not have an opportunity to come to know or accept the gospel revelation or to enter the Church. The social and cultural conditions in which they live do not permit this, and frequently they have been brought up in other religious traditions. For such people salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his Sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit. It enables each person to attain salvation through his or her free cooperation.

“For this reason the Council, after affirming the centrality of the Paschal Mystery, went on to declare that ‘this applies not only to Christians but to all people of good will in whose hearts grace is secretly at work. Since Christ died for everyone, and since the ultimate calling of each of us comes from God and is therefore a universal one, we are obliged to hold that the Holy Spirit offers everyone the possibility of sharing in this Paschal Mystery in a manner known to God.’ ”

Certain quotes from Vatican II, such as the inner quote above, and from the Catechism, have been misinterpreted to claim that we cannot know how non-Christians can be saved. And this distortion has been used to cast doubt on the salvation of non-Christians. The effect is to suggest that either very few non-Christians are saved, in rare cases only, or that no non-Christians are saved. Such a suggestion is heresy, as it is a type of mitigated Feeneyism. In other words, the condemned error of Feeneyism, which says only Catholic can be saved, is lessened in severity, by saying that other Christians and rarely some non-Christians may be saved — but this is not sufficient; the idea remains heretical.

The truth is found in the dogma of the universal salvific will of God. The merciful and most holy Trinity desires all human persons to be saved, and so salvation is made concretely and broadly accessible to everyone, in every situation, in all places and at all times. Some persons are not saved, due to free will and unrepented actual mortal sin. But everyone has ample opportunity to be saved and to have eternal life in Heaven.

So it is NOT the case that salvation is only widely available to Christians or Catholics, and then only narrowly available (if at all) to non-Christians. Such an error is currently being promoted by far right Catholic leaders, including Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, and various traditionalist opponents of Pope Francis.

One of the ways that this error is promoted is by claiming that we just don’t know of any way that non-Catholics or non-Christians can be saved. That is false. The Church in fact has long taught that while baptism is necessary to salvation, non-Christians can receive a baptism of desire, which can be implicit. See my previous article on implicit baptism of desire. Then there is the baptism of blood, which I believe is obtained by any prenatals, infants, and young children, who die without the formal Sacrament of Baptism. They are united to Christ on the Cross by their suffering of the loss of the vast majority of a lifespan, and so Christ baptizes them with His blood.

Note that the Apostolic See recently approved the beatification of a family killed during World War II, including a newborn infant, who was unbaptized. The infant was born as the mother was killed. Read the news story here. This implies that a baptism of blood is not limited to persons who can understand and willingly choose martyrdom for Christ.

As for non-Christian adults, they may have invincible ignorance such that their failure to become Christians is not an actual mortal sin. Then they can enter the state of grace by an act of love of God and neighbor, just as Pope Pius XII taught in “Address to Midwives”: “An act of love is sufficient for the adult to obtain sanctifying grace and to supply the lack of baptism.” Such an act must be done in full cooperation with grace; it must be true charity, and not merely an emotional or selfish “love”.

As for atheists (as well as those who do not have sufficient understanding of God to explicitly love God), they may obtain an implicit baptism of desire by the selfless love of neighbor. For everyone who truly loves their neighbor, implicitly loves God.

If a non-Christian in the state of grace commits an actual mortal sin, and thereby loses the state of grace obtained previously by an implicit baptism of desire, the person can return to the state of grace by perfect contrition (sorrow for sin out of love for God). Then, just as in the case of an atheist who enters the state of grace by loving their neighbor, fully and selflessly, an atheist can return to the state of grace after mortal sin by implicit perfect contrition, by sorrow for sin out of love for their neighbor, who is harmed by their sins. Again, this must be done in full cooperation with grace.

But it is not the case that we have no idea how non-Catholics or non-Christians can be saved. We have been taught by the Church on the non-formal types of baptism: by desire and by blood, on implicit baptism of desire, on perfect contrition, on invincible ignorance, and on the universal salvific will of God. And we have also been taught that when non-Christians are saved, it is always by Christ and His Church, even if implicitly.

Pope Saint John Paul II:
“What I have said above, however, does not justify the relativistic position of those who maintain that a way of salvation can be found in any religion, even independently of faith in Christ the Redeemer, and that interreligious dialogue must be based on this ambiguous idea. That solution to the problem of the salvation of those who do not profess the Christian creed is not in conformity with the Gospel. Rather, we must maintain that the way of salvation always passes through Christ, and therefore the Church and her missionaries have the task of making him known and loved in every time, place and culture. Apart from Christ “there is no salvation.” … For those too who through no fault of their own do not know Christ and are not recognized as Christians, the divine plan has provided a way of salvation…. It is important to stress that the way of salvation taken by those who do not know the Gospel is not a way apart from Christ and the Church. The universal salvific will is linked to the one mediation of Christ.”
…
“For those, however, who have not received the Gospel proclamation, as I wrote in the Encyclical Redemptoris Missio, salvation is accessible in mysterious ways, inasmuch as divine grace is granted to them by virtue of Christ’s redeeming sacrifice, without external membership in the Church, but nonetheless always in relation to her (cf. RM 10). It is a mysterious relationship. It is mysterious for those who receive the grace, because they do not know the Church and sometimes even outwardly reject her. It is also mysterious in itself, because it is linked to the saving mystery of grace, which includes an essential reference to the Church the Savior founded.”
…
“Belonging to the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, however implicitly and indeed mysteriously, is an essential condition for salvation.”
All Salvation Comes through Christ (Pope Saint John Paul II, General Audience — May 31, 1995)

Some of those persons who “outwardly reject” the Church are nevertheless saved by Christ and His Church, by implicit membership in the Church. Such persons might belong to a non-Christian religion:

Pope Saint John Paul II: “Religions can exercise a positive influence on the destiny of those who belong to them and follow their guidance in a sincere spirit. However, if decisive action for salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit, we must keep in mind that man receives his salvation only from Christ through the Holy Spirit. Salvation already begins during earthly life. This grace, when accepted and responded to, brings forth fruit in the gospel sense for earth and for heaven.” [Ibid.]

Here the Saintly Pontiff teaches that persons belonging to non-Christian religions can receive some good influences from those religions, and can be saved even if they never become baptized Christians — but this occurs through the Holy Spirit and implicit membership in the Body of Christ.

Ronald L Conte Jr