November 2000 VOICE OF SHALOM

JESUS IS LORD With the Apostle Peter we confess that 'in no other name is there salvation'. The Declaration 'Dominus Iesus' - Jesus is the Lord - in the wake of Vatican Council II, shows that this does not mean that salvation is denied to non-Christians, but that its ultimate source is Christ in Whom God and man are united. God gives light to everyone in a way that is appropriate to their interior situation and their environment, giving them salvific grace through ways known to Him. The document clarifies the basic Christian elements, which do not hinder dialogue, but point out its foundations, because a dialogue without foundations would be destined to degenerate into empty verbosity. The same is true for the ecumenical question. If the document, with Vatican II, declares that 'the one Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church', this does not mean to express little consideration for other Churches and ecclesial communities. This conviction is accompanied by the awareness that this is not human merit, but a sign of God's fidelity, which is stronger than human weaknesses and sins, confessed by us in a solemn manner before God and men at the start of Lent. The Catholic Church suffers - as the document says - for the fact that true particular Churches and ecclesial communities with precious elements of salvation are separated from her. Pope John Paul II

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