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be used by God to prepare people for the truth of the gospel and even be a way of connecting
them through implicit faith to the saving power of the Church, they can also be an obstacle to
salvation as far as they are in error. Thus, the Church must never leave believers of other
religions ignorant of the truth of the gospel and of the Church as the mediator of salvation.
Accordingly the document confesses, "If it is true that the followers of other religions can
receive divine grace, it is also certain that objectively speaking they are in a gravely deficient
situation in comparison with those who, in the Church, have the fullness of the means of
salvation."
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Evaluation:
So, where do these documents leave us? How are we to understand the position of the
RCC on the relationship of the Church to other religions, including non-Roman Catholic
Christians? And, from the perspective of evangelical Protestant theology, how do we evaluate
this position? To be sure, understanding Roman Catholic theology on such an important and
longstanding issue is difficult. Like all other Christian theological traditions, the RCC has
attempted to express an unchanging gospel in a world of changing paradigms from medieval, to
modern, to postmodern. Unlike the Protestant tradition, the RCC labors under the principle that,
at least at some level, its own officially stated theology may never be changed or refuted as the
result of further study or a changed view of the world. Nevertheless, Roman Catholic theology
does change. The result is that Catholic theology tends to be a highly nuanced journey, coming
to grips with change while contending that it has never really changed.
Positives:
1) The uniqueness and fullness of God's salvific revelation and work in Jesus Christ: It
appears that, as a result of the openness of Vatican II and, even more so, of RM, many
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Dominus Iesus 22.