Subsisting in the Church of Christ.

Probably the most important section of the documents of Vatican II that impacts the Roman Catholic attitude toward other Christians is #8 of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium. This section discusses how “The unique Church of Christ which in the Creed we avow as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.” is actualized in churches which exist now in the world. Prior to this Council the Catholic position was that the “Church of Christ” is the now-existing Roman Catholic Church. The present Council made the remarkable statement that the Church of Christ “subsists in” the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in union with that successor, although many elements of sanctification and of truth can be found outside of her visible structure, These elements, however, as gifts properly belonging to the Church of Christ, possess an inner dynamism toward Catholic unity” . A footnote on page 23 of the Documents of Vatican II [Herder & Herder 1966] reads: “According to the Constitution, the Church of Christ survives in the world today in its institutional fullness in the Catholic Church, although elements of the Church are present in other churches and ecclesial communities . . . These “ecclesial elements” in other Churches, far from shattering the unity of the Mystical Body, are dynamic realities which tend to bring about an ever greater measure of unity among all who believe in Christ and are baptized in Him.”

Since the Council there has been a great deal of speculation on exactly how, in this context, the meaning of the phrase “subsists in” differs from that of the simple word “is”. For example, F. A. Sullivan [Theol. Stud. Vol. 69, p. 116 (2008] points out that in classical Latin subsistit in means “to remain in, to be perpetuated in.” Sullivan ends his article with the observation that the claim of Catholicism “to be the ‘one true church’ in no way excludes the recognition that the church of Christ is present and operative in the separated churches and ecclesial communities, and that the Holy Spirit makes use of them as means of grace and salvation for those who belong to them.” He then adds “One would look in vain for such positive statements about non-Catholic churches and communities in any papal document prior to Vatican II.”

The idea “Outside the Church there is no salvation” (Extra ecclesiam nulla salus) has been entertained by Christianity from the beginning. After the Resurrection Jesus said to his apostles “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mk. 16:16); see also Tit. 2:10,11. Similar sentiments have been expressed by early Fathers of the Church such as Ignatius of Antioch (ad Philad., #3), Origen (Homily in Jos., #3), and Cyprian (200-258) who wrote: “He cannot have God for his Father who does not have the Church for his mother” (de Unitate, c.vi), as well as by the Ecumenical Councils Lateran IV (Const . 1), and Florence (Sess. 11). The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that a person cannot be saved who is convinced that “the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, yet would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it” (#846). Since almost universally people outside the Catholic Church do not have this conviction they, of course, can be saved. Hence it is now appropriate to replace the above adage by the more appropriate Latin expression Extra Ecclesiam ampla salus, or Outside the Church there is adequate Salvation.