Marcelo Bravo Pereira, LC*
(ZENIT News / Rome, 30.05.2025).- Thirty years ago, on Wednesday, May 31, 1995, John Paul II gave a catechesis that seems to have had little impact, but which contained important statements for interreligious dialogue and for understanding the situation of those who find themselves, without fault, «extra Ecclesiam.» In it, he reinterpreted the so-called fundamental ecclesiological axiom «Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus,» breaking it down into two theologically more adequate statements: «outside of Christ there is no salvation» and «sine Ecclesia nulla salus.» Some years later, in 1997, the International Theological Commission consecrated, in the Catholic sphere, the Latin phrase «Extra Christum nulla salus,» whose source is not to be found in the Magisterium, but rather corresponds to one of the «sola» of Lutheran theology: «solus Christus.» However, the «sine Ecclesia» remained without greater development.
Therefore, it would be worth rereading this catechesis to highlight its value in relation to the theme of salvation in Christ and in the Church. Here I would like to dwell on the sine Ecclesia, and leave the extra Christum for another occasion.
On that occasion, John Paul II presented a reflection rooted in the missionary realism of the Church, noting that, after more than two thousand years of evangelization, the Gospel has not yet reached all peoples and not all have been converted to Christ. «As far as human capacities for foresight and knowledge are concerned,» the Pope acknowledged, “for so many people it has been impossible to access the Christian message, and this practical impossibility seems destined to last for a long time yet, perhaps until the final consummation of the work of evangelization.»
Now, this fact cannot be explained simply as a failure of Christians, as a consequence of their divisions or inconsistencies. Rather, it seems to be part of a broader, mysterious, and wise salvific plan, known only to God. «Even for those who, through no fault of their own, neither know Christ nor recognize themselves as Christians,» the Pope teaches, «the divine plan has provided a path of salvation.» This is the great theme of the «viae extraordinariae,» already present at the Second Vatican Council and taken up by «Redemptoris Missio,» according to which the salvation of Christians is part of a divine plan that can never be conceived as parallel, much less alternative, to that of Christ and of the Church.
There is, therefore, a path of salvation arranged by God for non-Christians. This conviction of John Paul II would seem to go against «extra Ecclesiam,» according to its most radical interpretation. However, as early as 1949, in a Letter to the Archbishop of Boston, the Holy Office warned that «this dogma must be understood in the sense in which the Church herself understands it.» She remains firm that there is no salvation outside of Christ (extra Christum nulla salus). Now, the extension of the axiom should be limited to those who, «not being ignorant that the Church was founded by God through Jesus Christ as necessary,» do not want to persevere in her «in order to obtain salvation» (Lumen Gentirum, 14). In fact, this is also the meaning given to the formula by Saint Cyprian and Saint Augustine, considered the creators of the axiom, in reference to the schismatics and the Donatists.
The Pope adds that there is no salvation without the Church («sine Ecclesia nulla salus«), because the Church is the Universal Sacrament of Salvation and the Mystical Body of Christ. With this division of the «extra Ecclesiam» into two mutually complementary statements,
It recovers its original meaning, which we have already highlighted, but above all, the bond between the Church and Christ is reinforced, which had not been explicitly developed in the traditional formulations since Fulgentius of Ruspe (6th century). The Church-Sacrament is a necessary instrument for salvation exclusively by virtue of its mystical bond with Christ, true God and true man, the only door of access to the Father. The Christological dimension of «extra Ecclesiam» is the great contribution of 20th-century theology.
Saving grace can certainly also act outside the visible confines of the Church. However, this does not authorize us to affirm that religions are autonomous or parallel paths of salvation. According to the Pope, they can exert a «positive influence on the faithful,» to the extent that they stimulate the search for God and facilitate obedience to the impulses of grace. However, they do not save as such: salvation is always the work of the Holy Spirit, who communicates the grace of Christ even where He is not yet known. Saint John Paul II remains faithful to the Catholic tradition according to which all saving grace has its origin in Christ and is communicated through His Mystical Body, which is the Church. Even when this grace acts outside the visible Church, it remains an ecclesial grace, because the Church is «Christ spread and communicated» («le Christ répandu et communiqué«) 2, as Henri de Lubac wrote, inspired by Bossuet.
For this reason, it can be stated that without the Church there is no salvation («sine Ecclesia nulla salus«), without fear of relativizing the «extra Ecclesiam.» «Adherence to the Church-Mystical Body of Christ,» the Pope teaches, «however implicit and therefore mysterious it may be, constitutes an essential condition for salvation.»
This implicit orientation toward the Church is manifested in an attitude of sincere adherence to the Will of God, through the inspirations of grace, as also stated in the Letter to the Archbishop of Boston cited above: anyone who, without fault, does not know Christ but sincerely seeks God and strives to live according to the natural moral law, could attain salvation, because «facienti quod est in se, Deus non denegat gratiam,» and «desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth» (1 Timothy 2:4). This disposition of the heart is already an openness to the saving grace of Christ, even if it is not fully conscious. This is, ultimately, «fides salvifica,» in the sense of the Letter to the Hebrews (11:6): «Without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever approaches God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.»
This salvific action of Christ outside the visible limits of the Church does not automatically make those reached by it members of the Church. They remain «without external adhesion to the Church, but always, nevertheless, in relationship with her.» The Church is the Universal Sacrament of Salvation, and as such, she is always involved in Christ’s redemptive action, even when it is realized in mysterious ways.
From here arises the fundamental task of evangelization. The fact that God can also save those outside the visible Church in no way diminishes the missionary urgency. On the contrary, in my opinion, the mission takes on an even greater value: it is a matter of making explicit, visible, conscious, and fully effective adherence to Christ and His Church. «Whoever ignores Christ,» the Pope acknowledges, «even without fault, finds himself in a condition of darkness and spiritual destitution,» because, as Saint Peter says in Acts 4:12, «there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved.» Not knowing Christ on this earth is perhaps the most radical poverty of human beings, and the most beautiful mission is to bring the true face of God to those who seek Him in darkness and implicitly.
Now, this «making explicit» of the mystery of Christ does not mean taking up again the doctrine of Rahner’s «anonymous Christians», but rather recognising, behind the search and thirst for transcendence, the action of the Spirit, which is «at the very origin of man’s existential and religious question» and which reaches «not only individuals, but society and history, peoples, cultures, religions» (Redemptoris Missio, 28).
The decisive question, then, is not whether one can be saved outside the explicit knowledge of Christ and the visibility of the Church, but how we can credibly proclaim that Christ is the one and universal Savior. This depends on our witness, our consistency of life, works of mercy (Matthew 25:31-46), patience, and trust in the Spirit. Only God knows the ways of salvation, but all pass through Christ and reach their fullness in the mystery of the Church, gently touching the hearts of all. «Sine Ecclesia nulla salus» is not an exclusion, but the affirmation that salvation always comes from Christ, and the Church is the sacramental sign of His presence in history. This «field hospital,» which preserves the true image of Christ, welcomes all, near and far.
Father Marcelo Brav, author of this article, is a Priest of the Legionaries of Christ and a Professor of Theology at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome. He is also Director of the Higher Institute of Religious Sciences at the same University.
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