Question:
Answer:
Properly understood, this ancient creed of the Church and Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium [LG]) do not contradict each other regarding who can be saved.
Some might quickly object, arguing that that the Athanasian Creed provides that a person must keep the Catholic Faith “whole and undefiled” if they are to be saved, whereas Lumen Gentium, as is cited in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), holds out hope for the salvation of non-Catholics (846-48).
The focus of the Athanasian Creed is the divinity of Jesus Christ and—by extension—the reality of the Holy Trinity (three persons in one God), truths which were being bitterly opposed in the fourth century by the Arians, who denied the divinity of Jesus, claiming he was simply an exalted creature. And while scholars dispute whether St. Athanasius or one of his confreres wrote this creed, its name is no doubt inspired by the great saint and Father of the Church, Athanasius, who valiantly fought against the Arian heresy.
At the same time, the early Church understood the reality of mortal sin, that a person could not be separated from God eternally unless he committed grave wrongdoing with full knowledge and complete consent of his will and persevered in unrepentance in doing so (CCC 1857-59; 1854-64; 1033-37). Consequently, for example, St. Paul holds out hope for the salvation of those who follow the law of God written on their hearts, even though they do not explicitly affirm Christ and his Church (Rom. 2:14-16).
Similarly, Lumen Gentium and the CCC teach that those cannot be saved who know that Jesus made the Church necessary for salvation, yet refuse to enter the Church or remain in it, because by their actions they would be rejecting Christ himself and his salvific plan for us. And yet for those who are invincibly ignorant of those truths, the Church holds out that they can be saved, as Jesus desires that all be saved (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9). Because we cannot presume upon any person’s invincible ignorance, we must advance the Church’s divinely given Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20) with diligence and charity (LG 16; CCC 848).