People seem to think that Church teaching never changes, that there is no darkness for believers, only light. But, I think of any poor, distraught parents who lived in the fifth century AD, whose infant died before being baptized, and who heard a Saint, Saint Augustine, preach "Therefore neither those who have never heard the Gospel nor those who by reason of their infancy were unable to believe....are separated from that mass which will certainly be damned....without the Baptismal bath, infants cannot be saved."
Would these sad - and undoubtedly angry - parents have unquestioningly believed Augustine, and believed that a God Who condemned an innocent infant to hell was not a God they wanted to believe in? Or did their prayer and consciences enlighten them to have faith, to have trust during their spiritual darkness that God is good and merciful, that God would surely welcome an innocent child to heaven? Today the Catholic Church teaches that God is wholly good, merciful, and loving, and so God desires that innocent, unbaptized infants go to Heaven.
Yes, there is a development of Church dogma over the centuries. We're always living in an "in-between time" when we and our Church have not yet fully understood the mind and heart of God and so our dogmas are true but need deeper understanding and deeper refinement.
Another example: for centuries theologians and Popes taught that outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation. As late as 1863, Pope Pius IX, in his encyclical "Quanto conficiamur moerore" declared "It is a well-known Catholic dogma that no one can be saved outside the Catholic Church." Pope Boniface VIII issued a bull which read "Moreover, we declare, state, and define that for every human creature it is a matter of necessity for salvation to be subject to the Roman Pontiff."
When I was young, Catholics considered it a sin to attend a Church Service at a Protestant Church. Anyone who "left the Church" and married a Protestant in a Protestant Church was considered to be in grave spiritual jeopardy of being damned. Imagine the tears shed by parents worried about their "lost" children's souls! Imagine their inner darkness. Or - did some of them turn to God in faith and inwardly say "God, I trust that you are good and merciful, and love my child even more than I do"?
Yet, amazingly, in the 1960s, Pope Paul VI and the assembled body of Catholic Bishops at the Second Vatican Council approved these words about Christians who are not members of the Roman Catholic Church: "They lovingly believe in God the Father Almighty and in Christ, Son of God and Savior. They are consecrated by Baptism, through which they are united with Christ. They also recognize and receive other sacraments within their own churches or ecclesial communities....They also share with us in prayer and other spiritual benefits. Likewise we can say that in some real way they are joined with us in the Holy Spirit, for to them also he gives his gifts and graces, and is thereby operative among them with His saving power."
What had happened? Centuries of hatred and misunderstanding had built a wall between various Christian denominations. Once Catholic and Protestant theologians had the experience of actually meeting each other, sharing about their faith with each other, observing each other's real love and holiness, walls began to come down, and the idea of "Church" became broader, deeper, and wider. And so today, a Catholic may apply for and receive a dispensation to be validly married to a Protestant in a Protestant Church, or in a Catholic Church. Catholics and Protestants routinely attend each other's Church services, pray together, and discuss the ways in which their faiths differ and are alike. We treasure the Creed, which unifies us.
In the same way, over the last fifty years or so, Catholics and non-Christians have been meeting, discussing their faiths, and learning to recognize the presence of God in each others' lives. Two-thirds of the world's population do not share Christian faith and baptism! So, also at Vatican II, the Pope and Bishops approved of this following statement about the Jews:
"Those who have not yet received the Gospel are related in various ways to the people of God. In the first place there is the people to whom the covenants and the promises were given, and from whom Christ was born according to the flesh. On account of their fathers, this people remains most dear to God, for God does not repent of the gifts he makes nor of the calls he issues."
But Vatican II also speaks of the Muslim faith:
"But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the creator. In the first place among these there are the Moslems who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind."
Vatican II spreads the Church's welcoming arms even further:
"Those also can attain to everlasting salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or his church, yet sincerely seek Gd and, moved by grace, strive by their deeds to do his will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience. Nor does divine providence deny the help necessary for salvation to those who, without blame on their part, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God, but who strive to live a good life, thanks to his grace."
How could the Catholic Church change its attitudes toward non-Christians and even non-believers in such a drastic way? Through developing a deeper understanding over the centuries of Who God is and how God works our salvation. God always works our salvation through the sacrifice and the intercession of Christ. And Christ's arms on the cross embrace far many more people then the Church at one time understood. Pope St. John Paul II said the following:
"The Second Vatican Council, centered primarily on the theme of the church, reminds us of the Holy Spirit's activity also 'outside the visible body of the Church.' The council speaks precisely of 'all people of good will in whose hearts grace works in an unseen way. For, since Christ died for all, and since the ultimate vocation of man is one and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit, in a manner known only to God, offers to every man the possibility of being associated with this divine mystery." (in "Dominum et Vivicantem.")
In "Redemptoris Misso," John Paul II insists that all salvation comes through Jesus the Christ. Salvation is offered to all, and it is always salvation in Christ. Yet a person does not need to explicitly accept Christ as Savior in order to be saved by him. The Pope says
"The universality of salvation means that it is granted not only to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the Church. Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to all. But it is clear that today, as in the past, many people do not have an opportunity to come to know or to accept the Gospel revelation or to enter the Church. The social and cultural conditions in which they live do not permit this, and frequently they have been brought up in other religious traditions. For such people 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 it is communicated by the Holy Spirit. It enables each person to attain his or her salvation through his or her free cooperation."
God's mysterious grace can save us, through Christ, no matter what religious tradition we follow, or even if we are still searching for God. Christianity is the Fullness of the Faith, the complete Revelation of God. But God is so much more loving and merciful than we can even imagine!
So often we can become lost in a darkness of wondering Who God is, how far His mercy and love stretch to save souls. We must always remember that mercy is God's greatest attribute, and that the Church, which is supposed to be the Face of Christ, as Christ is the Face of the Father, our human and divine Church is always striving and struggling to be merciful. Pope Francis says
"The mercy of God is his loving concern for each one of us. He feels responsible; that is, he desires our wellbeing and he wants to see us happy, full of joy, and peaceful. This is the path that the merciful love of Christians must also travel. As the Father loves, so do his children. Just as he is merciful, so we are called to be merciful to each other.
"Mercy is the very foundation of the Church's life. All of her pastoral activity should be caught up in the tenderness she makes present to believers; nothing in her preaching and in her witness to the world can be lacking in mercy." (in "The Face of Mercy.")
Today, in our country and world, when non-Christians are scorned, ostracized, treated as second class citizens, or actively kept from being welcomed as refugees to countries, it is so important to recognize that Christ died for all and His merciful salvation can embrace all, even those who do not know him as Savior. Jesus does not "look down on" any religion. Jesus does not seek to control anyone. The only pre-conditons that Jesus gives for our salvation is sincere goodness, authentic prayer, and love always open to truth.
Each Christian is called to be a Living Gospel through his kindness, prayerfulness, and loving service to others, no matter who they are. Showing merciful love to others means opening ourselves to truly experience others, no matter how different they are, or how their lives may be lived "off the beaten path." Merciful love is able to have faith in the wisdom and mystery of God's love, operating "under the radar" even in exceptional, awkward situations. Merciful love always works to reconcile opposites, to trust with optimism that God is far bigger and more unknowable than we could imagine, and that our dogmas concerning God and salvation are always in the process of being "under construction." Merciful love recognizes that each of us has to struggle to form our own conscience, and that our experiences, religious traditions, (or lack thereof) and cultures help to shape our consciences.
When we feel lost in the darkness, not understanding how God may be at work in a particular person or situation in our lives, our faith can be luminous even in that darkness. We can trust the Father as Jesus did on the cross. We can dare to believe that God is silently, humbly, always at work in every human soul. We can trust that God does not put people in rigid categories the way that we limited, fragile people do. Our hands can be full of works of mercy. We can, finally, have joyful, luminous faith that God and God alone decides who will enter His Kingdom.