2589. THE general opinion is that people born outside the church–who are called pagans and Gentiles–cannot be saved because they do not have the Word and therefore know nothing about the Lord, without whom there is no salvation.
Yet this one train of thought can show that they too are saved: The Lord's mercy is universal; that is, it reaches out to every individual. People outside the church are born human, just like people in the church. Those in the church are fewer, and those outside the church are not to blame for not knowing the Lord.
By the Lord's divine mercy, their lot and condition in the other world has been shown to me.
