Apologeticae sive Theologiae Fundamentalis, Tomus II (Pars Altera): Demonstratio Catholica

1. Objectively speaking, the Church by the will of Christ is said to be the sole mediatrix of salvation in such a way that subjectively no one obtains salvation, unless he is united with the Church in some manner. It is not asked objectively whether Christ could have used other ways and means to bestow salvation upon men, but whether He willed to institute the Church as the unique organ of salvation. Hence, even subjectively it is not investigated who is saved, but the condition sine qua non of salvation is laid down. For union with the Church is not the sole condition of salvation. Many members of the Church will be damned, because they lacked the spiritual life of the Church, i. e., they were destitute of sanctifying grace, by which alone man is supernaturally united to God and attains eternal beatitude. Nevertheless, participation with the Church is the condition sine qua non of salvation. For although God Himself infuses sanctifying grace, He nevertheless willed that this grace be communicated to men through the ministry of the Church. Therefore he who is united with the Church in no way is incapable of eternal salvation.

2. He who cannot be united with the Church in reality, but embraces her by desire, is not excluded from salvation. In reality they are members of the Church who are actually found in the visible society of the Church;¹ by desire, those who are held by the desire of the Church. This desire, however, can be explicit, as it is in the catechumen who knows the Church, or implicit, as it is in him who is ignorant of the Church, yet is prepared to fulfill the divine commandments and hence also the commandment of entering the Church, wherever he shall have found her. Whoever conceives at least this implicit desire of entering the Church, although he does not belong to the "body" of the Church, nevertheless belongs to the "soul" of the Church, i. e., he undergoes the manifold influence of the graces dispensed by the Church. Indeed, by an act of faith and charity he can acquire the state of sanctifying grace and consequently eternal life.²

This doctrine Pius IX expressly enunciates thus: "It is known to us and to you that those who labor under invincible ignorance concerning our most holy religion, and who, diligently observing the natural law and its precepts inscribed by God in the hearts of all, and being prepared to obey God, lead an honest and upright life, can, by the operative power of divine light and grace, attain eternal life."³

3. Therefore neither non-Catholics nor non-Christians of good will, but only those are incapable of salvation who die outside the Church by their own grave fault. The holy Fathers and the theologians of the Middle Ages teach that heretics and schismatics who in good faith profess the Christian religion outside the Church can be saved.⁴ For these non-Catholics can be justified the more easily, the greater part of the revealed faith and certain means of justification, especially baptism, they have in common with the Church. The Fathers and theologians also affirm that catechumens who have faith and charity are saved, even if they die before they have entered the Church through baptism.⁵ Finally they hold that even the pagans themselves, who had never heard anything about the Christian religion and the Church, can with the help of God attain justification, provided they do what lies in themselves.⁶ For although the work of salvation becomes more difficult for these, since they are destitute of the doctrine and the sacraments of the Church, it nevertheless does not on that account prove to be impossible. For: "To him who does what lies in himself, God does not deny grace." God, "who wills all men to be saved"⁷ also gives to all the means by which they may attain salvation.⁸ On the contrary, those cannot be partakers of salvation who, whether Christians or non-Christians, remain and die outside the Church by their own grave fault. And this indeed must be proved.