Sixty years of Nostra Aetate: a Roman Note discourages "proselytism"

On 16 September 2026, three dicasteries of the Roman Curia, for the Doctrine of the Faith, for Promoting Christian Unity and for Interreligious Dialogue, published a Note for the sixtieth anniversary of the conciliar declaration Nostra Aetate, entitled “A Path of Hope: Sixty Years of Interreligious Dialogue and Fraternity.” Approved on 22 June 2026 by the reigning pope, the text of some twenty pages is signed by Cardinals Víctor Manuel Fernández, Kurt Koch and George Koovakad, together with their secretaries.

The document takes up the affirmation of Nostra Aetate that the Church “rejects nothing of what is true and holy” in the other religions, and invites the faithful to regard their precepts and doctrines “with esteem and respect.” It discourages “proselytism,” which it presents as an outdated posture: “The defensive retreat into one’s own position and the idea that proselytism would be the only way to approach the other no longer make sense in a world that increasingly resembles an interconnected global village.” Dialogue is there called “an authentic evangelical path” that is “neither a strategy nor a renunciation of one’s own identity.”

On relations with the Jews, the Note reaffirms that “God’s covenant with the Jewish people is irrevocable,” while specifying that this covenant is not parallel to the Christian way of salvation, for “Christ is the one redeemer.” It finally sets aside the idea of founding “a single great world religion in which all beliefs would be placed on an equal footing,” a possibility that must be “excluded out of respect for ourselves and for others,” invokes religious freedom and demands “the same freedom for Christians in countries where they are a minority.” Readings diverge on the emphasis: some retain the esteem asked toward the other religions and the rejection of “proselytism”; others stress the refusal of a syncretist world religion and the affirmation of Christ the one redeemer. On the content of the text there is no disagreement.

What the Church has always taught

The Lord did not entrust to His own a dialogue, but a mandate: “Go ye into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned” (Mark xvi, 15-16). To convert the nations is not one posture among others: it is the very command of Christ, and the Church has held it for the first of her works of charity. The Catechism of the Council of Trent teaches that there is but one true Church, outside which no one can be saved, and the Council of Florence defined that neither pagan, nor Jew, nor heretic, nor schismatic remaining outside the Catholic Church will have part in eternal life.

Against the idea that the religions are of equal worth or complete one another, Pius XI was clear. In Mortalium animos (1928), he condemns indifferentism and forbids Catholics to take part in assemblies where men seek to fraternize all beliefs, recalling that unity will come about only by the return of the straying to the one Church of Christ. Pius IX, in the Syllabus (1864), had already reproved the proposition that man may find the way of eternal salvation in the practice of any religion whatever, and the one that grants to error a civil right as to truth.

The measure

By this standard, the Note calls for distinctions. To refuse “a single great world religion” and to confess that “Christ is the one redeemer” are true affirmations, in keeping with the faith of all ages: we receive them without reserve, and we likewise welcome the denunciation of persecutions and the demand for freedom for oppressed Christians, for every persecution of the true faith is a crime.

But to discourage “proselytism,” understood as the effort to bring others to the faith, strikes head-on against the mandate of Mark xvi, 15. One cannot at once believe Christ “the one redeemer” and hold outdated the desire to lead souls to Him: if salvation is in Him alone, to keep silent out of deference is not charity, but its opposite.

Likewise, to invite esteem for the “doctrines” of the other religions, and not only for the men who follow them, stands at the edge of the indifferentism that Mortalium animos reproves; and to found the claim to freedom on a general religious liberty, rather than on the right of truth, is to take up the key that the Syllabus condemned. As for the “irrevocable covenant” with the Jewish people, tradition teaches that the old Covenant found its term in Christ and that the salvation of Israel passes, like that of all, through conversion to Him.

For the faithful, the line remains simple. To love every man, to respect his person, to force no one to believe: this the Church has always willed. But to love is to will for the other the one true good, which is faith and baptism. We hold therefore to the faith as the Church has always taught it, and we pray for the conversion of all, without confusing charity with silence.

Sources. Gospel according to Saint Mark, xvi, 15-16 (Douay-Rheims, from the Vulgate). Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566), from the article “I believe in the holy Catholic Church.” Council of Florence, bull Cantate Domino (1442). Pius IX, Syllabus (1864), propositions on indifferentism and religious liberty. Pius XI, encyclical Mortalium animos (1928).