Pope Leo XIII On Those Who Don’t Know Jesus

Pope Leo XIII, Tametsi futura prospicientibus (#3), Nov. 1, 1900: “The greatest of all misfortunes is never to have known Jesus Christ… For Christ is the fountain - head of all good. Mankind can no more be saved without His power, than it could be redeemed without His mercy. ‘Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved’ (Acts IV, 12). What kind of life that is from which Jesus Christ, ‘the power of God and the wisdom of God,’ is excluded; what kind of morality and what manner of death are its consequences, can be clearly learnt from the example of nations deprived of the light of Christianity. If we but recall St. Paul's description (Romans I., 24-32) of the mental blindness, the natural depravity, the monstrous superstitions and lusts of such peoples, our minds will be filled with horror and pity.”