The -> CHURCH respects everything in other religions that is good and true. She respects and promotes freedom of religion as a human right. Yet she knows that Jesus Christ is the sole redeemer of all mankind. He alone is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6). [841-848]
Whoever seeks God is close to us Christians. There is a special degree of “affinity” to the Muslims. Like Judaism and Christianity, Islam is one of the monotheistic religions (-> MONOTHEISM). The Muslims, too, revere God the Creator and Abraham as their father is faith. Jesus is considered a great prophet in the Qur’an; Mary, his Mother, as the mother of a prophet. The Church teaches that all men who by no fault of their own do not know Christ and his Church but sincerely seek God and follow the voice of their conscience can attain eternal salvation. However, anyone who has recognized that Jesus Christ is “the way, and the truth, and the life” but is unwilling to follow him cannot find salvation by other paths. This is what is meant by the saying, Extra ecclesiam nulla salus (outside of the Church there is no salvation).
