CONGREGATION
FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH
DECLARATION
"DOMINUS IESUS"
ON THE UNICITY AND SALVIFIC UNIVERSALITY
OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE CHURCH
CONCLUSION
23. The intention of the present
Declaration, in reiterating and clarifying
certain truths of the faith, has been to follow the
example of the Apostle Paul, who wrote to the faithful
of Corinth: “I handed on to you as of first
importance what I myself received” (1 Cor
15:3). Faced with certain problematic and even erroneous
propositions, theological reflection is called to
reconfirm the Church's faith and to give reasons for
her hope in a way that is convincing and effective.
In treating the question of the true
religion, the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council
taught: “We believe that this one true religion
continues to exist in the Catholic and Apostolic Church,
to which the Lord Jesus entrusted the task of spreading
it among all people. Thus, he said to the Apostles:
‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
all that I have commanded you' (Mt 28: 19-20).
Especially in those things that concern God and his
Church, all persons are required to seek the truth,
and when they come to know it, to embrace it and hold
fast to it”. 99
The revelation of Christ will continue
to be “the true lodestar” 100
in history for all humanity: “The truth, which
is Christ, imposes itself as an all-embracing authority”.
101 The Christian mystery, in
fact, overcomes all barriers of time and space, and
accomplishes the unity of the human family: “From
their different locations and traditions all are called
in Christ to share in the unity of the family of God's
children... Jesus destroys the walls of division and
creates unity in a new and unsurpassed way through
our sharing in his mystery. This unity is so deep
that the Church can say with Saint Paul: ‘You
are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are
saints and members of the household of God' (Eph
2:19)”. 102
The Sovereign Pontiff John Paul
II, at the Audience of June 16, 2000, granted to the
undersigned Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith, with sure knowledge and
by his apostolic authority, ratified and confirmed
this Declaration, adopted in Plenary Session and ordered
its publication.
Rome, from the Offices of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, August
6, 2000, the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
Joseph Card. Ratzinger
Prefect
Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B.
Archbishop Emeritus of Vercelli
Secretary
(1) First Council of Constantinople,
Symbolum Constantinopolitanum: DS 150.
(2) Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 1: AAS 83 (1991), 249-340.
(3) Cf. Second Vatican Council,
Decree Ad gentes and Declaration Nostra aetate; cf.
also Paul VI Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi:
AAS 68 (1976), 5-76; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter
Redemptoris missio.
(4) Second Vatican Council, Declaration
Nostra aetate, 2.
(5) Pontifical Council for Inter-religious
Dialogue and the Congregation for the Evangelization
of Peoples, Instruction Dialogue and Proclamation,
29: AAS 84 (1992), 424; cf. Second Vatican Council,
Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes, 22.
(6) Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 55: AAS 83 (1991), 302-304.
(7) Cf. Pontifical Council for
Inter-religious Dialogue and the Congregation for
the Evangelization of Peoples, Instruction Dialogue
and Proclamation, 9: AAS 84 (1992), 417ff.
(8) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Fides et ratio, 5: AAS 91 (1999), 5-88.
(9) Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic
Constitution Dei verbum, 2.
(10) Ibid., 4.
(11) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 5.
(12) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Fides et ratio, 14.
(13) Council of Chalcedon, Symbolum
Chalcedonense: DS 301; cf. St. Athanasius, De Incarnatione,
54, 3: SC 199, 458.
(14) Second Vatican Council,
Dogmatic Constitution Dei verbum, 4.
(15) Ibid., 5.
(16) Ibid.
(17) Cf. Catechism of the Catholic
Church, 144.
(18) Ibid., 150.
(19) Ibid., 153.
(20) Ibid., 178.
(21) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Fides et ratio, 13.
(22) Cf. ibid., 31-32.
(23) Second Vatican Council,
Declaration Nostra aetate, 2; cf. Second Vatican Council,
Decree Ad gentes, 9, where it speaks of the elements
of good present “in the particular customs and
cultures of peoples”; Dogmatic Constitution
Lumen gentium, 16, where it mentions the elements
of good and of truth present among non-Christians,
which can be considered a preparation for the reception
of the Gospel.
(24) Cf. Council of Trent, Decretum
de libris sacris et de traditionibus recipiendis:
DS 1501; First Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution
Dei Filius, cap. 2: DS 3006.
(25) Second Vatican Council,
Dogmatic Constitution Dei verbum, 11.
(26) Ibid.
(27) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 55; cf. 56 and Paul VI,
Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi, 53.
(28) First Council of Nicaea,
Symbolum Nicaenum: DS 125.
(29) Council of Chalcedon, Symbolum
Chalcedonense: DS 301.
(30) Second Vatican Council,
Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes, 22.
(31) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 6.
(32) Cf. St. Leo the Great, Tomus
ad Flavianum: DS 294.
(33) Cf. St. Leo the Great, Letter
to the Emperor Leo I Promisisse me memini: DS 318:
“...in tantam unitatem ab ipso conceptu Virginis
deitate et humanitate conserta, ut nec sine homine
divina, nec sine Deo agerentur humana”. Cf.
also ibid. DS 317.
(34) Second Vatican Council,
Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes, 45; cf. also
Council of Trent, Decretum de peccato originali, 3:
DS 1513.
(35) Cf. Second Vatican Council,
Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 3-4.
(36) Cf. ibid., 7; cf. St. Irenaeus,
who wrote that it is in the Church “that communion
with Christ has been deposited, that is to say: the
Holy Spirit” (Adversus haereses III, 24, 1:
SC 211, 472).
(37) Second Vatican Council,
Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes, 22.
(38) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 28. For the “seeds
of the Word” cf. also St. Justin Martyr, Second
Apology 8, 1-2; 10, 1-3; 13, 3-6: ed. E.J. Goodspeed,
84; 85; 88-89.
(39) Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter, Redemptoris missio, 28-29.
(40) Ibid., 29.
(41) Ibid., 5.
(42) Second Vatican Council,
Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes, 10. Cf. St.
Augustine, who wrote that Christ is the way, which
“has never been lacking to mankind... and apart
from this way no one has been set free, no one is
being set free, no one will be set free” De
civitate Dei 10, 32, 2: CCSL 47, 312.
(43) Second Vatican Council,
Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 62.
(44) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 5.
(45) Second Vatican Council,
Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes, 45. The necessary
and absolute singularity of Christ in human history
is well expressed by St. Irenaeus in contemplating
the preeminence of Jesus as firstborn Son: “In
the heavens, as firstborn of the Father's counsel,
the perfect Word governs and legislates all things;
on the earth, as firstborn of the Virgin, a man just
and holy, reverencing God and pleasing to God, good
and perfect in every way, he saves from hell all those
who follow him since he is the firstborn from the
dead and Author of the life of God” (Demonstratio
apostolica, 39: SC 406, 138).
(46) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 6.
(47) Cf. Second Vatican Council,
Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 14.
(48) Cf. ibid., 7.
(49) Cf. St. Augustine, Enarratio
in Psalmos, Ps. 90, Sermo 2,1: CCSL 39, 1266; St.
Gregory the Great, Moralia in Iob, Praefatio, 6, 14:
PL 75, 525; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae,
III, q. 48, a. 2 ad 1.
(50) Cf. Second Vatican Council,
Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 6.
(51) Symbolum maius Ecclesiae
Armeniacae: DS 48. Cf. Boniface VIII, Unam sanctam:
DS 870-872; Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution
Lumen gentium, 8.
(52) Cf. Second Vatican Council,
Decree Unitatis redintegratio, 4; John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Ut unum sint, 11: AAS 87 (1995), 927.
(53) Cf. Second Vatican Council,
Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 20; cf. also
St. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses, III, 3, 1-3: SC 211,
20-44; St. Cyprian, Epist. 33, 1: CCSL 3B, 164-165;
St. Augustine, Contra adver. legis et prophet., 1,
20, 39: CCSL 49, 70.
(54) Second Vatican Council,
Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 8.
(55) Ibid.; cf. John Paul II,
Encyclical Letter Ut unum sint, 13. Cf. also Second
Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium,
15 and the Decree Unitatis redintegratio, 3.
(56) The interpretation of those
who would derive from the formula subsistit in the
thesis that the one Church of Christ could subsist
also in non-Catholic Churches and ecclesial communities
is therefore contrary to the authentic meaning of
Lumen gentium. “The Council instead chose the
word subsistit precisely to clarify that there exists
only one ‘subsistence' of the true Church, while
outside her visible structure there only exist elementa
Ecclesiae, which — being elements of that same
Church — tend and lead toward the Catholic Church”
(Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Notification
on the Book “Church: Charism and Power”
by Father Leonardo Boff: AAS 77 [1985], 756-762).
(57) Second Vatican Council,
Decree Unitatis redintegratio, 3.
(58) Cf. Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration Mysterium Ecclesiae,
1: AAS 65 (1973), 396-398.
(59) Cf. Second Vatican Council,
Decree Unitatis redintegratio, 14 and 15; Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, Letter Communionis
notio, 17: AAS 85 (1993), 848.
(60) Cf. First Vatican Council,
Constitution Pastor aeternus: DS 3053-3064; Second
Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium,
22.
(61) Cf. Second Vatican Council,
Decree Unitatis redintegratio, 22.
(62) Cf. ibid., 3.
(63) Cf. ibid., 22.
(64) Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, Declaration Mysterium Ecclesiae, 1.
(65) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Ut unum sint, 14.
(66) Second Vatican Council,
Decree Unitatis redintegratio, 3.
(67) Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, Letter Communionis notio, 17; cf. Second
Vatican Council, Decree Unitatis redintegratio, 4.
(68) Second Vatican Council,
Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 5.
(69) Ibid., 1.
(70) Ibid., 4. Cf. St. Cyprian,
De Dominica oratione 23: CCSL 3A, 105.
(71) Second Vatican Council,
Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 3.
(72) Cf. ibid., 9; cf. also the
prayer addressed to God found in the Didache 9,4:
SC 248, 176: “May the Church be gathered from
the ends of the earth into your kingdom” and
ibid. 10, 5: SC 248, 180: “Remember, Lord, your
Church... and, made holy, gather her together from
the four winds into your kingdom which you have prepared
for her”.
(73) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 18; cf. Apostolic Exhortation
Ecclesia in Asia, 17: L'Osservatore Romano (November
7, 1999). The kingdom is so inseparable from Christ
that, in a certain sense, it is identified with him
(cf. Origen, In Mt. Hom., 14, 7: PG 13, 1197; Tertullian,
Adversus Marcionem, IV, 33,8: CCSL 1, 634.
(74) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 18.
(75) Ibid., 15.
(76) Ibid., 17.
(77) Second Vatican Council,
Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 14; cf. Decree
Ad gentes, 7; Decree Unitatis redintegratio, 3.
(78) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 9; cf. Catechism of the
Catholic Church, 846-847.
(79) Second Vatican Council,
Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 48.
(80) Cf. St. Cyprian, De catholicae
ecclesiae unitate, 6: CCSL 3, 253-254; St. Irenaeus,
Adversus haereses, III, 24, 1: SC 211, 472-474.
(81) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 10.
(82) Second Vatican Council,
Decree Ad gentes, 2. The famous formula extra Ecclesiam
nullus omnino salvatur is to be interpreted in this
sense (cf. Fourth Lateran Council, Cap. 1. De fide
catholica: DS 802). Cf. also the Letter of the Holy
Office to the Archbishop of Boston: DS 3866-3872.
(83) Second Vatican Council,
Decree Ad gentes, 7.
(84) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 18.
(85) These are the seeds of the
divine Word (semina Verbi), which the Church recognizes
with joy and respect (cf. Second Vatican Council,
Decree Ad gentes, 11; Declaration Nostra aetate, 2).
(86) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 29.
(87) Cf. ibid.; Catechism of
the Catholic Church, 843.
(88) Cf. Council of Trent, Decretum
de sacramentis, can. 8, de sacramentis in genere:
DS 1608.
(89) Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 55.
(90) Cf. Second Vatican Council,
Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 17; John Paul
II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 11.
(91) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 36.
(92) Cf. Pius XII, Encyclical
Letter Mystici corporis: DS 3821.
(93) Second Vatican Council,
Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 14.
(94) Second Vatican Council,
Declaration Nostra aetate, 2.
(95) Second Vatican Council,
Decree Ad gentes, 7.
(96) Catechism of the Catholic
Church, 851; cf. also 849-856.
(97) Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Redemptoris missio, 55; Apostolic Exhortation
Ecclesia in Asia, 31.
(98) Cf. Second Vatican Council,
Declaration Dignitatis humanae, 1.
(99) Ibid.
(100) John Paul II, Encyclical
Letter Fides et ratio, 15.
(101) Ibid., 92.
(102) Ibid., 70.
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