Non-Christian believers in one God–such as Jews and Moslems–were assured by Pope Pius VI of his esteem and of their inclusion in the thoughts of the Catholic Church, in the discourse which the Pontiff delivered at the opening of the second Ecumenical Council Vatican II this Sunday. He declared:
“The Catholic Church looks beyond her own sphere and sees those other religions which preserve the sense and notion of the one supreme, transcendent God, creator and sustainer, and which worship Him with acts of sincere piety and base their moral and social life on their belief and religious practices.
“It is true that the Catholic Church sees in such religions omissions, insufficiencies and errors which cause her sadness, yet she cannot exclude them from her thoughts and would have them know that she esteems what they contain of truth and goodness and humanity.”
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