Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus

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The Latin phrase Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus, meaning: "Outside the Church there is no salvation", is a teaching of the Roman Catholic Church that, though not formally defined as a dogma, is a definitive doctrine of the Church, and is mentioned in the profession of faith of the Fourth Lateran Council: "... One, moreover, is the universal Church of the faithful, outside of which no one at all is saved."

1 Official Roman Catholic interpretation
2 Other interpretations
3 Contrast with the Roman Catholic Church's view
4 External links
- 4.1 In favour of the Feeney view
- 4.2 Against the Feeney view

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Official Roman Catholic interpretation

The Church's own understanding of the significance of the phrase is expressed in its Catechism of the Catholic Church, 846-848 as follows:

"Outside the Church there is no salvation" - How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:

"Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved 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" (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, 14).

This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:

"Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or 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" (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, 16).

"Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men" (Second Vatican Council, Ad Gentes, 1).

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Other interpretations

Others have interpreted the phrase "extra Ecclesiam nulla salus" to mean that only explicit adherents of the Roman Catholic Church can be saved.

This interpretation is associated in particular with the Rev. Leonard Feeney, M.I.C.M. (1897-1978). Feeney had originally been a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the Jesuit order. On account of disobedience related to his refusal to come to Rome when summoned by the Holy Office, the Jesuit order dismissed Feeney in 1949, and the Roman Inquisition excommunicated him in 1953. He subsequently founded founded a new religious congregation now known as the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

It was traditionally believed that, as well as through sacramental baptism ("baptism of water"), salvation is granted through "baptism of blood" (martyrdom for the faith) and "baptism of desire" (dying, perhaps as a catechumen, before being able to fulfil the wish to be baptized). Some tended to broaden the notion of "baptism of desire" to cover the situation of all who try to live good lives, while perhaps desiring no relationship with the Catholic Church. Taken to its extreme, this broadened interpretation is practically the equivalent of the notion of universal salvation. Father Feeney, on the other hand, accepted no form of baptism other than by water as opening the way to salvation.

The followers of Father Feeney interpret as supporting their view the 1302 bull Unam Sanctam of Pope Boniface VIII ("We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff"), and the strong restatement of the "extra Ecclesiam nulla salus" doctrine by Pope Eugene IV in the bull Cantate Domino of 1441.[1]]

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Contrast with the Roman Catholic Church's view

As indicated above, the Roman Catholic Church rejects both Father Feeney's teaching and (by stating that "they could not be saved 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") the contrary notion that one can be saved while knowingly and deliberately rejecting the Catholic Church.

It holds that, among those who "do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter ... those who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 838), and that "(t)hose who have not yet received the Gospel are related to the People of God in various ways" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 839).

The 2000 declaration Dominus Iesus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith states that "it must be firmly believed that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and baptism (cf. Mk 16:16; Jn 3:5), and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through baptism as through a door." Dominus Iesus then adds that "for those who are not formally and visibly members of the Church, 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 has a relationship with the Church, which “according to the plan of the Father, has her origin in the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit."[2]

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