THE FULLNESS OF SALVATION IS FOUND IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

VATICAN CITY, JAN 28, 2000 (VIS) - The participants in the plenary session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith were welcomed this morning by the Holy Father, who dedicated his talk to one of the two themes of the plenary, "the oneness and saving universality of Christ and of the Church," affirming that the fullness of salvation is found in the Catholic Church.

The Pope stated that "the reaffirmation of the Magisterium's doctrine in this regard is proposed ... in order to refute errors and grave ambiguities which have taken shape and are being spread in diverse milieux."

"In recent years, in fact," he affirmed, "in certain theological and ecclesial milieux a mentality has emerged which tends to relativize the revelation of Christ as the one and universal mediation for salvation, as well as to redimension the Church's need for Christ as a universal sacrament of salvation. To remedy this relativistic mentality the definitive and complete nature of the revelation of Christ must be reiterated."

"The thesis concerning the limited nature of the revelation of Christ, which finds its complement in other religions, is therefore contrary to the Church's faith. The basic reason for this assertion claims to be based on the fact that the truth about God cannot be received and shown in its universality and fullness by any one historical religion, therefore, not even by Christianity, much less by Jesus Christ. This position, however, contradicts the affirmation of faith according to which Jesus Christ represents the full and complete revelation of the saving mystery of God."

John Paul II continued: "Linked to the oneness of the saving mediation of Christ is the oneness of the Church He founded. In fact the Lord Jesus constituted His Church as a saving reality: as His Body, through which He Himself works in the history of salvation. As there is only one Christ, there is only one Body: 'one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church'."

"It is therefore erroneous to consider the Church as one road to salvation next to those built by other religions." What must be excluded is "a religious relativism which leads people to hold that one religion equals another."

He observed that Vatican Council II said that non-Christians could attain eternal life "'moved by grace' if 'they seek God with a sincere heart'. ... Their situation, however, is lacking, if compared to that of those who, in the Church, have the fullness of the means of salvation."

Pope John Paul closed his talk by re-confirming "the Catholic Church's commitment to 'the re-establishment of unity'. ... Our ardent desire to one day reach full communion with other Churches and ecclesial communities must not however obscure the truth that the Church of Christ is not a utopia that must be put back together from existing fragments, with our human strength. The Decree 'Unitatis redintegratio' explicitly spoke of the unity 'which we believe subsists, without the possibility of being lost, in the Catholic Church and which we hope will grow every day to the end of time'."

AC;ONENESS; SALVATION; CHURCH;...;CDF;VIS;20000128;Word: 500;