Regarding whether 'all religions are the same'

For those who have asked whether all religions are the same, here follows the text of the current Catechism of the Catholic Church:

"Outside the Church there is no salvation"

846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?335

Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:
Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches 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. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.336

847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church: 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.337

848 "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men."338

Mission - a requirement of the Church's catholicity

849 The missionary mandate. "Having been divinely sent to the nations that she might be 'the universal sacrament of salvation,' the Church, in obedience to the command of her founder and because it is demanded by her own essential universality, strives to preach the Gospel to all men":339 "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; and Lo, I am with you always, until the close of the age."340

850 The origin and purpose of mission. the Lord's missionary mandate is ultimately grounded in the eternal love of the Most Holy Trinity: "The Church on earth is by her nature missionary since, according to the plan of the Father, she has as her origin the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit."341

The ultimate purpose of mission is none other than to make men share in the communion between the Father and the Son in their Spirit of love.342

Comment:

It is clear that only the Catholic Church is the true religion and the rest are false religions, despite containing some true things. And, if someone is saved outside the Church, they do so by suffering from invincible ignorance, by not having known (nor having been able to know) the true Faith, and following their right conscience and the natural order (not killing, not lying, not stealing, etc. ). And it always does so based on the merits of the Church and of Christ as her head and spouse.

The question follows:

- If some can be saved who is not Catholic, “what is the point of going on missions miles and miles away like the missionaries do and did?”

- The answer: - If it is difficult for us who have the true Faith, with the help of the sacraments, the teaching of the Church, etc., to be good and follow our right conscience, how much more so for those poor souls who have not yet received the message of Christ? Hence is the need to mission, as the Lord commanded in Mark 16:15: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." 

This is the Catechism and nothing more. Catechism for barbarians…

May we use this days to purify and conform ourselves to the Faith.

From 'Don't believe everything you hear' (Que no te la cuenten)

A blog by Fr. Javier Olivera Ravasi SE, an Argentine priest and founder of the order of St. Elijah.