The Pope Says Most Will Be Saved? Not So Fast: A Response to Father Robert Barron

Dr. Ralph Martin, Professor of Systematic Theology at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, has a new book entitled "Will Many Be Saved?" Admittedly, I haven't read the book, though it's on my Christmas list (my wife has imposed a rule about buying things when we're this close to Christmas.  The rule is:  we don't.) 

At any rate, even without having read the book, I've still read enough to be able to summarize Dr. Martin's argument.  He believes that the growing belief in the Church that many (if not nearly all) will be saved is a misreading of the Vatican II document, Lumen Gentium (particularly paragraph 16).  

But Martin's book isn't the point of this post.  What I want to focus on here is a particular review or response to the book by the well-known Father Robert Barron. 

Father Barron, in an article entitled "How Many Are Saved?" praised Martin's book as "important", but, in the end, found himself in disagreement with Martin's conclusion.  Here's Father Barron's summary in his own words:

So who has it right in regard to this absolutely crucial question? Even as I deeply appreciate Martin’s scholarship . . . I found his central argument undermined by one of his own footnotes. In a note buried on page 284 of his text, Martin cites some “remarks” of Pope Benedict XVI that have contributed, in his judgment, to confusion on the point in question. He is referring to observations in sections 45-47 of the Pope’s 2007 encyclical "Spe Salvi," which can be summarized as follows: There are a relative handful of truly wicked people in whom the love of God and neighbor has been totally extinguished through sin, and there are a relative handful of people whose lives are utterly pure, completely given over to the demands of love. Those latter few will proceed, upon death, directly to heaven, and those former few will, upon death, enter the state that the Church calls Hell. But the Pope concludes that “the great majority of people” who, though sinners, still retain a fundamental ordering to God, can and will be brought to heaven after the necessary purification of Purgatory. Martin knows that the Pope stands athwart the position that he has taken throughout his study, for he says casually enough, “The argument of this book would suggest a need for clarification.”

Obviously, there is no easy answer to the question of who or how many will be saved, but one of the most theologically accomplished popes in history, writing at a very high level of authority, has declared that we oughtn't to hold that Hell is densely populated . . . .  It seems to me that Pope Benedict’s position – affirming the reality of Hell but seriously questioning whether that the vast majority of human beings end up there – is the most tenable and actually the most evangelically promising.  

So, to summarize:  Father Barron's reading of Spe Salvi leads him to conclude that Pope Benedict XVI believes that the majority of people are saved, though after a time of purgation.  From the document, he concludes that Benedict is "seriously questioning whether that [sic] the vast majority of human beings end up there." However, is that a correct reading of the document in question?  Is the Pope really saying that the majority of mankind will be purified in purgatory and made fit for heaven?  Is that what Spe Salvi is actually proposing?

With copies of the document readily available online, I opened a copy and read it, focusing specifically on the paragraph in question (46).  And as much as I respect Father Barron (and as much as I'm unsuited to step into the "theological ring" with him) I can't help but think, after reading the document closely myself, that Father Barron has perhaps read too much into the text.  

Here are Benedict's words from paragraph 46 with my comments in bold:

For the great majority of people—we may suppose—there remains in the depths of their being an ultimate interior openness to truth, to love, to God.  In the concrete choices of life, however, it is covered over by ever new compromises with evil—much filth covers purity, but the thirst for purity remains and it still constantly re-emerges from all that is base and remains present in the soul. What happens to such individuals when they appear before the Judge? Will all the impurity they have amassed through life suddenly cease to matter? What else might occur?

After differentiating in the preceding paragraph between those who are thoroughly evil and those who are utterly pure when they die, Pope Benedict talks about the rest of humanity--the great majority of people.  He points out that this vast majority have at least some sort of interior openness to truth, love and God.  However, if you read the remainder of his comments in context, he's not declaring that this "great majority" all go to heaven.  He's just saying that the great majority of people are not thoroughly and completely opposed to God, truth and love. 

Benedict goes on to say that for this great majority of people, even though they're open, to some extent to things that are holy, their choices in life are covered over by compromises with evil. Certainly, the thirst for purity can remain and still can re-emerge from all that is base, but it also can sink back under the filth again.

Basically, all he's saying here is that these people aren't the utterly vile that were spoken of earlier.  The spark of human goodness is still alive, though perhaps dim.  This is the bulk of mankind:  mired in sin, but not completely rejecting the God, truth and love.  But then he asks an important question: what happens when they appear before the Judge?  Does all that sin cease to matter?  Are they welcomed into heaven regardless of their lives?  Let's see what he says:

Saint Paul, in his First Letter to the Corinthians, gives us an idea of the differing impact of God's judgement according to each person's particular circumstances. He . . . begins by saying that Christian life is built upon a common foundation: Jesus Christ. This foundation endures. If we have stood firm on this foundation and built our life upon it, we know that it cannot be taken away from us even in death.

Here's where Benedict makes an important distinction by mentioning the "Christian life".  He then references 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 to make the point that it truly is the Christian life he is speaking--a life built upon the foundation of Christ.  And the good news, he points out, is that this foundation (Christ) endures.  IF we have stood on this foundation, have built upon it, we know it (the foundation) cannot be taken away from us even in death.  IF we start with Christ as our foundation, we have a firm hope for our salvation.  

But what if we don't start with Christ as a foundation?  What if we ignore Christ completely?  What if we build on a foundation OTHER than Christ?  What if we're really good people, but never really cared to dig into that "Jesus" thing?  Pope Benedict doesn't address this aspect of the discussion.  He's only talking about those who build on Christ--not those who didn't.  That's important...

Then Paul continues: “Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward [Heaven].  If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” [Purgatory] (1 Cor 3:12-15). In this text, it is in any case evident that our salvation can take different forms, that some of what is built may be burned down, that in order to be saved we personally have to pass through “fire” so as to become fully open to receiving God and able to take our place at the table of the eternal marriage-feast.

Here's the passage that ties everything together.  He fully draws out the meaning of Paul's writing in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 and points out that when we build on the foundation of Christ, we're building on a firm foundation.  If that which we build is composed of gold and silver and precious stones, the fire will test it, it won't be burned up, and we'll be ushered into heaven.  If that which we build is hay, wood or straw however, it will be burned up, BUT we will be saved as through fire.

And why will we be saved?  Because we built on the foundation of Christ--the foundation which endures.  We built improperly or poorly on the foundation of Christ--and for that there is a time of cleansing and ordering of our hearts toward God--but the most important fact (in the end) is that we did build on Christ.  That causes us to have a firm hope in salvation in the end, even though we may have to suffer the purifying fire.  Again, if we didn't build upon Christ, this text offers us nothing, neither good nor bad--the Pope's focus here is upon those who live the Christian life, not those who reject it or don't know of it.  

In reading through the paragraph carefully, it's clear that while Pope Benedict does not come out and say "many will be damned" or anything of that nature, neither does he claim that, (as has been suggested) "the great majority will be saved."   The point of the encyclical is not to talk about the numbers of the damned, so it's no surprise he doesn't dwell on that topic.  However, to claim that his statements somehow represent support for the notion that most will eventually be saved, is simply not being true to the text.  He's not really addressing the eternal fate of non-Christians at all.  He's talking about those who build on the foundation of Christ.  And he suggests that IF we do that, we have a reasonable hope of salvation.  Oh, that salvation may come with a stop off in purgatory, but if we build upon the foundation of Christ we won't be abandoned. 

And even if you're still not convinced Pope Benedict is suggesting what I see, I believe at the very least, we can agree with Dr. Martin that the remarks certainly could stand for some clarification.  They are definitely not as clear as Father Barron suggests in favor of the salvation of "most".

Which brings us back to the question at hand:  will most be saved?  Or will more be lost?  My brain isn't suited to answer that.  I'd love to believe that most are saved--after all, God is Love and God is God and can therefore accomplish whatever He wants, right? 

Yet, as much as I'd like to believe all that, I can't shake Christ's own words about the narrow road and the few whot will find it.  I can't shake all of Christ's warnings of Hell.  I can't shake the fact that His last words to the Apostles were "go, make disciples, baptize and teach everyone to follow all that I've commanded" (Matthew 28:16-20).  If most will end up being saved, why the warnings?  Why the commands?  Why the sense of urgency?  

No, as much as I wish and pray that Hell would be/is largely empty, I can't believe it is.  Perhaps I'm wrong. Hopefully, I'm wrong.  But the words of Christ are clear:  Hell is real and it's a very real possibility for all of us.  It has to be both of those things or His warnings are a waste of His breath and time.  

And because it's real, we need to examine our souls, our consciences, on a daily basis.  We need to uncover hidden sin and we need to get to confession.  We need to repent, follow Christ, and spread the word:  

Hell is real.
Souls go there.
Christ is the answer!