can a non-catholic be saved?

This Document is dedicated to:

​St. John Damascene,
St. Juan de Ribera,
The Martyrs of Cordoba 

By Mark Anthony
​1 | P a g e A St. Mark the Evangelist’s Document Can a Non-Catholic be saved?  This Document is dedicated to: Our Lord Jesus Christ, Founder of the Catholic Church Our Lady, Mother of the Church Our Lady, Help of Christians The Holy Apostles  By Mark Anthony 2 | P a g e Introduction Since the beginning of the Church’s life, the question about whether someone outside the Church can be saved as been at the forefront of the Church Fathers’ rich tapestry of teachings. However, ever guided by the Holy Ghost, they all made a resounding answer: no. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself carefully taught His Apostles that a heretic who would not recant of his heresy and refused to “hear the Church” was to be “to thee as the heathen and publican” (Matt 18:17; DRV). Christ Himself condemned the heretic who refused to listen to His Church, and thus have a hope of saving his soul. A man who is deemed a heathen by Christ Himself is surely someone who has been denied eternal life by the Same Christ, for a heathen does not know the True God, nor does he worship Him truthfully or with love, and is therefore outside the Church. So, let us see what the Church teaches regarding this topic, and hopefully those of us who embrace the truth may understand the radical and dangerous concept of ecumenism and so-called “dialogue” that neither advances the freedom of the Church nor the salvation of souls. 3 | P a g e Can a Non-Catholic be saved? Ordinarily, no, not without being a baptised member of the Catholic Church, and it should be noted that even those people who are baptised but are outside the Catholic Church, such as Protestants and the Orthodox, cannot be saved unless they join with Her before their deaths (See this document and Pius XI’s Encyclical, Mortalium Animos). You cannot call on Christ outside the Church, nor can you call yourself a Christian without being part of the Catholic Church, as Pope Pius XII stated, “To be Christian one must be Roman. One must recognize the oneness of Christ’s Church that is governed by one successor of the Prince of the Apostles who is the Bishop of Rome, Christ’s Vicar on earth” (Allocution to the Irish pilgrims of October 8, 1957) However, it is possible, as far as the Church understands, for a person who is completely ignorant of the Church to be saved, but there is a criteria, as the Catechism explains. First, it tells us that people cannot 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." (Article 846) The Catechism of the Catholic Church also goes on to say: 847 - This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church: 4 | P a g e 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. 848 - "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." Also, I can quote from a Letter sent to the Archbishop of Boston, Richard J. Cushing, in 1949, from the Holy Office (the Inquisition) after he informed them of disobedient and heretical clerics in his Archdiocese. Here is what the Holy Office wrote, and which was approved of by Pope Pius XII: "Now, among the commandments of Christ, that one holds not the least place by which we are commanded to be incorporated by baptism into the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church, and to remain united to Christ and to His Vicar, through whom He Himself in a visible manner governs the Church on earth. 5 | P a g e Therefore, no one will be saved who, knowing the Church to have been divinely established by Christ, nevertheless refuses to submit to the Church or withholds obedience from the Roman Pontiff, the Vicar of Christ on earth. Not only did the Savior command that all nations should enter the Church, but He also decreed the Church to be a means of salvation without which no one can enter the kingdom of eternal glory." However, the said Letter goes on to say that those who are ignorant of the Church, but have a desire to be part of God's Faithful, are joined to the Church through their desire: "The same in its own degree must be asserted of the Church, in as far as she is the general help to salvation. Therefore, that one may obtain eternal salvation, it is not always required that he be incorporated into the Church actually as a member, but it is necessary that at least he be united to her by desire and longing. However, this desire need not always be explicit, as it is in catechumens; but when a person is involved in invincible ignorance God accepts also an 6 | P a g e implicit desire, so called because it is included in that good disposition of soul whereby a person wishes his will to be conformed to the will of God." However, the same Letter quotes the August Pontiff, Pius XII, warning the following: "...he mentions those who "are related to the Mystical Body of the Redeemer by a certain unconscious yearning and desire," and these he by no means excludes from eternal salvation, but on the other hand states that they are in a condition "in which they cannot be sure of their salvation" since "they still remain deprived of those many heavenly gifts and helps which can only be enjoyed in the Catholic Church." So, a person ignorant of the Gospel but who still obeys the natural law and desires to do the Will of God, can be saved if he does the right thing. Also, the said person must also be truly contrite for his sins and ask for forgiveness. However, the Church cannot be sure of their salvation, so She begs God to have mercy on the said person for the sake of his soul and for the glory of God. Remember, a person must be ignorant of the Church and the Gospel, 7 | P a g e which excludes Jews, Muslims, Protestants, atheists, etc. If there are people out there who do not know the Church, but who lift their hearts to God or at least follow the natural law, God will take that into consideration at the person's Judgement. Lastly, it should be remembered that all men can be redeemed, but only through Jesus Christ by the ministry of the Holy Roman Church. And God judges all people, not just Catholics! And He judges their works, not their "faith alone", as St. Matthew records for us in his Gospel; Our Lord said, "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels: and then will he render to every man according to his works." (Matt. 16:27) 8 | P a g e Prayer to St. Mark  O glorious St. Mark, through the grace of God our Father, thou didst become a great Evangelist, preaching the Gospel of Christ. Obtain for me, I pray thee, lively faith, firm hope and burning charity; patience in adversity, humility in prosperity, recollection in prayer, purity of heart, a right intention in all my works, diligence in fulfilling the duties of my state of life, constancy in my resolutions, resignation to the Will of God and perseverance in the Grace of God even unto death, and, by thy intercession and thy glorious merits I entrust to thee this special favour I now ask (mention your request). Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who Liveth and Reigneth with God the Father and the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen One Our Father, One Hail Mary and One Gloria 