The Catholic Church has always affirmed that salvation is a free gift that God freely offers to mankind. God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4). God is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.”(1 Tim 3:10). Human beings cannot save themselves. Nor does mankind deserve eternal life, any more than we “deserved” to be created in the first place. Nothing that a person has ever done or ever could do on his own can merit or earn eternal life; God must offer it or confer it.
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