Question 55 – Can Protestants Go To Heaven If They Lead Good Lives?

Interview Organization: Confraternity of Our Lady of Fatima
Interviewer Name: Christopher P. Wendt
Date: September 14, 2021
Traditional Catholic doctrine teaches that invincible ignorance, when a person unknowingly follows God’s will with good intentions, can lead to salvation. God, who sees the heart, judges based on true intent and supernatural love. Such individuals may receive grace, though the specifics of who will be saved remain unknown.
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Transcript:

A traditional Catholic doctrine says, that when a person is involved in invincible ignorance God accepts also an implicit desire, so-called because it is included in that good conscience of the soul whereby a person wishes his will to be conformed to the will of God. May it be to follow another form of religion or a Christian denomination, then God will decide and look into their hearts for their true intentions; only God can see this because we cannot see into a person’s heart. When invincible ignorance is proved to be true, he will be saved because of his obedience to the will of God with the justification of their subjective innocence provided also that their actions are supernatural acts of love towards God.

If done with the right intentions, the grace of Christ follows, and sometimes without even the person knowing that God has been working through him. In these special circumstances, there is salvation but we do not know who and how many shall receive this grace.

Therefore, we have to preach to everyone that the Catholic faith is the only way to salvation willed by God along with the grace of Christ. Like I said, we do not know how many of them are in this current situation and I do not think there are people in this world who do not know Christ. These people can still be lost because of the rejection of the will of God and the Catholic faith. Therefore, we have to preach and be missionaries to all non-Christians, we need to bring them to the faith through baptism to the Catholic Church with love, patience, and missionary zeal.