THE BISHOP'S CROZIER: Jesus Christ is the Path to Salvation

By Bishop James R. Golka

In a recent address at an interreligious meeting with young people in Singapore, Pope Francis was quoted as saying, “All religions are paths to God.”  This remark has caused quite a bit of confusion and concern regarding what the Church teaches about Jesus Christ, the Church, and the path to salvation.

It is important to understand that the Holy Father was speaking spontaneously, and his remark is only a part of a much bigger and nuanced teaching of the Church on salvation and other religions.  So, I hope to provide some clarity to what the Church teaches about the path to salvation that comes through Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church and how this relates to other religions. 

First, the Holy Father’s point can be understood in that all religions manifest humanity’s search for God and in some ways lead us to an understanding of God.   As Vatican II states, “The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions. She has a high regard for the manner of life and conduct, the precepts and teachings, which, although differing in many ways from her own teaching, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men”‌ (“Nostra Aetate,” 2)

But while other religions can help lead someone to God, it is only Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) who fully reveals the one true God and leads us to salvation. Therefore, it is only by knowing and encountering Christ that we can truly know God. The Church clearly teaches that the full revelation of God can only be found in the revelation of Jesus Christ. “By this revelation then, the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines forth in Christ, who is at the same time the mediator and the fullness of all revelation”‌.  (“Dei Verbum,” 2)   

The Church also clearly teaches that not only does Jesus Christ fully reveal God, but that he is the one and only mediator between God and humanity and it is only through Christ that we can have salvation.   This teaching was clarified in the year 2000 by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when it states, “It must therefore be firmly believed as a truth of Catholic faith that the universal salvific will of the One and Triune God is offered and accomplished once for all in the mystery of the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son of God.” (“Dominus Iesus,”14) Only Jesus is the way to the Father and the door of salvation for all.

The Church has also clearly taught that this one and only path to salvation through Jesus Christ cannot be separated from the mission of the Church that he founded. It has become quite popular these days to adopt a spirituality devoid of religion, or a type of Christianity separate from the Church that Jesus Christ clearly founded. To separate the salvation offered by Jesus Christ from the Church founded by him as the instrument of salvation is a serious error of our time.  

As the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith teaches, quoting Vatican II and St. John Paul II, “Above all else, 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.’‌ This doctrine must not be set against the universal salvific will of God (cf. 1 Tim 2:4); ‘it is necessary to keep these two truths together, namely, the real possibility of salvation in Christ for all mankind and the necessity of the Church for this salvation.’”‌ (“Dominus Iesus,” 20)

While salvation is only possible through Christ and his Church, the Catechism of the Catholic Church also teaches that “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.” (847)  At the same time, “[al]though in ways known to himself God can lead those, who through fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men.” (848)

Therefore, it is the primary mission of the Church to evangelize so that all of humanity can come to know and be saved by Jesus Christ through his Church.  Because of this, each individual Catholic and the Church as a whole should be energized and consumed with the desire to witness to the power of Jesus Christ in the practice of our Catholic faith. This mission of evangelization is not some sort of “add on” to the Church’s mission, but is at the very heart of her existence — so much so that St. Paul VI taught that “she exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God . . . .” (“Evangelii nuntiandi,”14)

This mission to evangelize is in accord with the will of God that all be saved through Jesus Christ and is the responsibility of all the baptized. “Indeed, God ‘desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth’ (1 Tim 2:4); that is, God wills the salvation of everyone through the knowledge of the truth. Salvation is found in the truth. Those who obey the promptings of the Spirit of truth are already on the way of salvation. But the Church, to whom this truth has been entrusted, must go out to meet their desire, so as to bring them the truth. Because she believes in God’s universal plan of salvation, the Church must be missionary.”‌ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 851) 

Therefore, let us use this opportunity to not only understand more clearly what the Church teaches about Jesus Christ and the Church as the one path to salvation, but to also personally take on the mission of evangelization so that we can be heralds of the good news of salvation offered by Jesus Christ to all.