“EXTRA Ecclesiam Nulla Salus,” or “Outside the Church There Is No Salvation,” is a highly controversial and detested dogma of the Catholic Church. It is often misunderstood. Some distort it in the direction of flexibility and others toward rigidity.

For those who would like to grasp this important doctrine quickly and easily, I recommend the lucid and unimpeachable article, Questions And Answers on Salvation, written by the Rev. Michael Müller, C.SS.R. in 1875. It is taken from his longer work Familiar Explanation of Christian Doctrine, of the same year, which has the imprimatur of the then Archbishop of Baltimore and the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.

There is enough here to console even those whom Fr. Müller offends and to dispel much confusion.

Q. Is it then right for us to say that one who was not received into the Church before his death, is damned?

A. No.

Q. Why not?

A. Because we cannot know for certain what takes place between God and the soul at the awful moment of death. (more…)