Lumen Gentium: The Mystery of the Church (14)

Chapter II of Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, is entitled “On the People of God.” It continues as follows:

“14. This Sacred Council wishes to turn its attention firstly to the Catholic faithful. Basing itself upon Sacred Scripture and Tradition, it teaches that the Church, now sojourning on earth as an exile, is necessary for salvation. Christ, present to us in His Body, which is the Church, is the one Mediator and the unique way of salvation. In explicit terms He Himself affirmed the necessity of faith and baptism(124) and thereby affirmed also the necessity of the Church, for through baptism as through a door men enter the Church. Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved.”

(124) Cf. Mark 16:16; John 3.5.

 

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Dogmatic Constitution on the Church - Lumen Gentium