Assessing the Sacramental Essence of the Roman Catholic Church

It is difficult to find a Roman Catholic teaching or document of a missional thrust that does not contain Christ’s command to his disciples to “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15 ESV). The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s declaration Dominus Iesus (On the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church), written in September 2000, begins with this exact affirmation. This command defines the Church’s mission, and indeed it does. Who could argue with that? It’s missional and catalytic appeal are non-negotiable. In order to make clear what is intended by the unicity and salvific universality of Christ and the Church, Dominus Iesus helpfully states in paragraph 13:

“The thesis which denies the unicity and salvific universality of the mystery of Jesus Christ…has no biblical foundation. In fact, the truth of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Lord and only Saviour, who through the event of his incarnation, death and resurrection has brought the history of salvation to fulfilment, and which has in him its fullness and centre, must be firmly believed as a constant element of the Church's faith” (italics original).

In other words, salvation is in Christ alone, and this must not be denied. Amen! What Bible believing church would deny the unicity of Christ’s salvation? In paragraph 14, we read a similar affirmation: “It must therefore be firmly believed as a truth of Catholic faith that the universal salvific will of the One and Triune God is offered and accomplished once for all in the mystery of the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son of God” (italics original).

In September of 2000, the ecumenical pendulum had been slowly swinging towards a vastly more inclusive ecumenism, pioneered largely by the Second Vatican Council. Dominus Iesus was a bucket of cold water on a fire that had been slowly growing in intensity. Declarations of the nature of those just cited were a clear effort to stop the swinging of the pendulum and encourage its reverse course. In other words, Dominus Iesus was an effort to preserve the sacramental system of the Catholic Church. Despite its best efforts, however, the declaration could not entirely avoid the swing of the pendulum that had become irreversible after the Second Vatican Council, and that would have enduring and significant implications on the sacramental nature of the Church, as we are soon to see.

In the following paragraphs we see a progression of this thought and logic. Paragraph 16 states: “Therefore, in connection with the unicity and universality of the salvific mediation of Jesus Christ, the unicity of the Church founded by him must be firmly believed as a truth of Catholic faith” (italics original). Then in paragraph 20 we read: “Above all else, it must be firmly believed that ‘the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church’” (italics original).

Here we see a subtle but extremely important development that is essential to understanding the essence of modern-day Roman Catholicism. The development goes as follows: Salvation in Christ is unique, which means Christ is the only means of salvation (paragraph 13). Paragraph 14 makes a similar affirmation but introduces the word “mystery” to describe the incarnation. “Mystery” is a common descriptor of Christ, the Church, and salvation in modern-day Roman Catholicism. Then in paragraph 16, the unicity of the Church is made synonymous with the unicity of Christ. By the time we get to paragraph 20, we see that because Christ is necessary for salvation, so too is the Church. This is because in Roman Catholicism Christ is the Church, and the Church is Christ. Dominus Iesus makes this perfectly clear when it states that Christ, “is present to us in his body which is the Church” (paragraph 20).

Where things really get interesting is when in Dominus Iesus (quoting Vatican II’s Lumen gentium) the Catholic Church self identifies as “the universal sacrament of salvation” (paragraph 20). What exactly does that mean? That’s a good question, and its answer is also essential to understanding modern-day Roman Catholicism, for in its sacramentality we find the essence of the Roman Catholic Church. Let’s look at the larger context in which we find this self-identification of the Church. It will help bring clarity to this concept and will also demonstrate that the unicity of Christ’s salvation is not as unique as we were led to believe.

“The Church is the ‘universal sacrament of salvation’‌, since, united always in a mysterious way to the Saviour Jesus Christ, her Head, and subordinated to him, she has, in God's plan, an indispensable relationship with the salvation of every human being. For those who are not formally and visibly members of the Church, ‘salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church, but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ…’” (paragraph 20).  

Salvation is accessible through grace which is mediated and dispensed by Christ. Being Christ himself, the Church mediates and dispenses grace, and for this reason plays an indispensable role in the salvation of every human being. Indeed, it is this mediatorial role of the Catholic Church that forms the core of its essence. In his book Same Words, Different Worlds, Leonardo De Chirico affirms this: “The sacramentality of the church is the mode of Christ’s presence in the world in and through the Roman Catholic Church…Sacramentality refers to the idea of ‘mediation’” (p. 101). With this in mind, let us reconsider the Church’s self-understanding as the “universal sacrament of salvation.” “Universal” means that the Church is everywhere present. “Sacrament” refers to the Church’s mediatorial role in making Christ present everywhere and dispensing grace, thus making salvation universally present and accessible. Wherever Christ is, there is the Church.

We must now read statements about the unicity of Christ’s salvation in light of the Church’s universal sacrament of salvation. While on the one hand paragraph 13 of Dominus Iesus cites Acts 4:12 that declares that “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name by which we must be saved;” on the other hand the Church declares in paragraph 16 of Lumen gentium that God’s plan of salvation “also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place amongst these there are the Muslims, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God…”

On the one hand salvation is in Christ alone, for there is no other name by which we must be saved. On the other hand, God’s plan of salvation includes Muslims, who outright deny the redemptive acts of Christ’s death and resurrection, and thus also deny the sufficiency of Christ for salvation. Salvation, then, is not in Christ alone. This contradiction is owed to the Church’s understanding of itself as a “universal sacrament of salvation.” It is a sacramentality that finds its essence in its mediatorial role on Christ’s behalf.

While the true church of Christ does indeed represent Him on earth and is His body, its true essence is found in its subservience to Christ, not in its being Christ Himself. The church’s subservience to Christ is a natural and needed system of checks and balances. When the church errs, it must be reformed according to God’s Word, which is its supreme source of authority. When, however, the church is Christ, it no longer has God’s Word as its highest means of correction and reform, but instead stands over and above it. The claims of the Catholic Church in regard to its relationship with Muslims is evidence of what happens when the church does not have Scripture as its ultimate authority and understands itself to be Christ and mediate grace and salvation on his behalf. Therefore the essence of the Catholic Church, which is found in its sacramentality, is in need of a radical, biblical reformation.