However, let me unpack this new paradigm. If mission has its origin in God and its goal is divine self-communication to the world, then its first act is creation itself. The whole of history then becomes a history of salvation. The Word and the Spirit are already active in creation giving expression to the plan of God, which aims at the reconciliation and unification of all things. We could argue from this that all the religions, popular or developed, are part of this plan.
All religions are capable of mediating salvific divine-human encounter.
Once we start with the mission of God then the conclusion seems inescapable. John Paul II does not hesitate to draw it. The Spirit's presence and activity affect not only individuals but also society and history, peoples, cultures and religions. First of all, if God's mission starts with creation and if the whole of cosmic and human history is salvation history, then the radical separation between the 'sacred' and the 'secular' breaks down. In other words, the secular becomes the manifestation of the sacred.