What a great interview and product of evangelization!
Political commentator Ben Shapiro sat down with Bishop Robert Barron, an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, for an hour-long interview on The Ben Shapiro Show’s Sunday Special.
Shapiro, who is Jewish, discusses “all things Catholic” with Bishop Barron, including several issues affecting the culture today, such as the recent sex scandals in the Catholic Church, abortion, and the Catholic Church in China.
They also dive deep into Catholic theology and tradition, as Shapiro asks Bishop Barron questions regarding papal infallibility, love of enemies, the afterlife, God’s existence, the Bible, sacred tradition, faith, and reason.
Bishop Barron also tells how and why he decided to become a priest!
Listen to the amazing interview below:
“Who Gets Into Heaven?”
One of the most intriguing questions Shapiro asks is, “As a Jew, how does it feel that there’s other religions that don’t think you’re getting into heaven. So let me ask you, what’s the Catholic view on who gets into heaven and who doesn’t?”
Bishop Barron answers, “The Second Vatican Council says it very clearly, ‘Christ is the privileged route to salvation, that God so loved the world He gave his only son that we might find eternal life.’
“However, Vatican II clearly teaches that someone outside the explicit Christian faith can be saved.
“Now they are saved through the grace of Christ indirectly received, so the grace comes from Christ, but it might be received according to your conscience. So, if you’re following your conscience sincerely, or in your case, you’re following the commandments of the law sincerely, yeah you can be saved.
“Now that doesn’t conduce to a complete relativism.
“We still would say the privileged route and the route that God has offered to humanity is the route of His Son. But no, you can be saved.
“Even Vatican II says an atheist of good will can be saved, because in following his conscience, (if he does) John Henry Neumann said, ‘The conscience is the aboriginal vicar of Christ in the soul.’
“That is a very interesting characterization–that it is, in fact, the voice of Christ…If he’s the Divine mind or reason made flesh, when I follow my conscience, I’m following Him, whether I know it explicitly or not.
“So even the atheist, Vatican II teaches, of good will, can be saved.”
Wow! Be sure to listen to the full interview. It’s amazing!
[See also: “It’s Not Time to Abandon the Church; It’s Time to Fight,” Says Bp. Robert Barron]
[See also: Is Pope Francis Really Changing the Our Father? Here’s the Truth, Explained]