Remember when the Catholic Church taught that those outside the Catholic Church were going to hell? Is that still true?
One of the most misunderstood teachings of the Catholic faith is this statement. Another phrasing of this was "There is no salvation outside the church." Simply put, this was not the teaching of the Catholic Church. But many, many Catholics,and not a few priests, communicated that. What is true teaching.
On the one hand, the Catholic Church has always taught that only through the salvific act of Jesus dying on the cross is anybody able to receive salvation, and therefore be admitted into the blessedness of heaven. How does one know Jesus? In and through the church. So the Catholic church is a necessary instrument of the salvation Christ freely gives to those who embrace him, through baptism, the sacraments and the life of grace.
Having said this, we much recognize that this doctrine is not as far reaching as some imagine it to be. People will sometimes ask, "Does this mean non-Catholics are going to hell?" Not necessarily.
The church recognizes that God does not condemn those who are innocently ignorant of the truth about his offer of salvation. Regarding the doctrine in question, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, quoting Lumen Gentium #16, states: "Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience--those too may achieve eternal salvation." (CCC 847) Further, the Vatican II document Nostrae Aetate says, "The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in [other] religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens humanity." (16)
The Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes teaches similarly on the possibility of salvation: "All this holds true not only for Christians, but for all persons of good will in whose hearts grace works in an unseen way. For, since Christ died for all, and since the ultimate vocation of humanity is in fact one, and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit in a manner known only to God offers to everyone the possibility of being associated with this paschal mystery." (22)
But once a person comes to know the truth, he must embrace it or he will be culpable of rejecting it. Much of the church's teaching in the past was directed to Catholics who explicitly and publicly rejected the authority of the Catholic Church. Then the Catholic Church was much more willing to identify itself by who was not inside its borders. Today we recognize that many who have left the active practice in the Catholic Church have not rejected faith in God or Christ, and still pray. As Pope Francis said, who am I to judge?
In our time Catholic leaders are much more reticent to say who is going to hell. That there is a place called hell, or eternal
damnation, is sure; however the Catholic Church has never pronounced definitively who is there. That we who are baptized, and those who are not, could end up in hell is real. But our very desire to follow the way of Christ (or for those who do not know Christ, to follow what is good and true) opens us up to God's merciful salvation.
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