Answer
As defined by moral theology, ignorance is a lack of knowledge or instruction that a person ought to have. In the theology of the Roman Catholic Church, ignorance is divided into a couple categories. Invincible ignorance is the Catholic term used to excuse a person’s culpability or guilt for sin based on the condition of ignorance. One who is invincibly ignorant is not considered at fault because he or she is unaware of the church’s teachings and lacks such knowledge because of circumstances beyond his control.
A person is said to be in a state of invincible ignorance if, when he acts, he is altogether unaware of the law or the teaching of the church and, therefore, is unconscious of his obligation and incapable of arriving at specific knowledge. He does not know something that he should know, but it’s not his fault. He cannot remove his ignorance.
A related term in Roman Catholic moral theology is vincible ignorance. Vincible ignorance results when a person is conscious of his lack of knowledge yet fails to obtain the information that would enable him to avoid sin. Ignorance is deemed vincible if that person recognizes his duty to make further inquiries but neglects to take advantage of his opportunities to do so. In this case, he doesn’t know something that he should know, and it is his fault. He could have taken steps to remove the ignorance.
We can frame the difference between invincible and vincible ignorance a different way: invincible ignorance is the state of someone who is ignorant and has no power to change the fact. Vincible ignorance is the state of someone who is ignorant but has the power to change—a power he neglects to use.
According to Catholic theology, invincible ignorance excuses one from sin, whereas vincible ignorance does not. Catholicism teaches that, outside of the Roman Catholic Church, there is no salvation (Lumen Gentium 16). The Catechism of the Catholic Church then explains that “this affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church” (847). So, for example, a person who has never heard of Christ, the gospel, or the church, but who sincerely seeks God and follows his conscience, “may achieve eternal salvation” (ibid.). Such a person is given grace because he is “invincibly ignorant.”
Invincible ignorance can also apply to those who have heard the gospel but for one reason or another, cannot understand it (see Luke 23:34). Also, invincible ignorance does not mean that the person is incapable of further enlightenment on a particular teaching; it only signifies that he or she was in a state of invincible ignorance when the offending action was committed.
The concept of invincible ignorance allows for the salvation of non-Catholics, such as morally upright pagans, young children, the mentally disabled, and others who meet certain criteria. The biblical teaching, although it may allow for the salvation of those who truly cannot understand, is different. Fallen mankind is “dead in transgressions” (Ephesians 2:5). He does not seek God (Romans 3:10–11) because he loves the darkness (John 3:19). Sinners are accountable to respond to the knowledge they have, but they do not, so “people are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). They suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18), and Scripture gives this verdict:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one” (Romans 3:10–12, quoting Psalm 14:1–3).
That is, all men are culpable for sin, and all ignorance is vincible.there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one” (Romans 3:10–12, quoting Psalm 14:1–3).
