Pope Takes Inclusive View of Salvation
Los Angeles Times
December 9, 2000
VATICAN CITY--Tempering a controversial Vatican declaration
on salvation, Pope John Paul II said this week that all who
live a just life will be saved, even if they do not believe
in Jesus Christ and the Roman Catholic Church.
The pontiff, addressing 30,000 pilgrims in St. Peter's
Square on Wednesday, strongly reasserted the Second Vatican
Council's liberal interpretation of the Bible's teaching on
salvation.
"The gospel teaches us that those who live in accordance
with the Beatitudes--the poor in spirit, the pure of heart,
those who bear lovingly the sufferings of life--will enter
God's kingdom," John Paul said.
The pope appeared to take a far more inclusive approach to
salvation than the declaration "Dominus Ieusus," issued
Sept. 5 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
the Vatican's guardian of doctrinal orthodoxy. The
declaration caused dismay among non-Catholics involved in
interfaith dialogue by asserting that their rituals,
"insofar as they depend on superstitions or other errors,
constitute an obstacle to salvation."