ITS PLAUSIBLE TO HAVE ANOTHER INTERPRETATION OF VATICAN COUNCIL II WITH REFERENCE TO THE DOGMA EXTRA ECCLESIAM NULLA SALUS SAYS DOMINICAN PRIEST

We often hear it said by Catholics that everybody needs to enter the Church except for those in invincible ignorance and the baptism of desire.

This is one interpretation of Vatican Council II. Can there be another?

Yes agrees Fr. Lucas Dempsey O.P.

The other interpretation is that everybody needs to be a visible member of the Catholic Church for salvation (Ad Gentes 7, CCC 845, ex cathedra Cantate Domini, Council of Florence) and if anyone has the baptism of desire or is in invincible ignorance it would be known only to God.

I was explaining to him today morning the error of placing the belief in the dogma that everyone needs to be a visible member of the Church in opposition to those being saved with invincible ignorance etc.

It is common to hear Catholics mix up Lumen Gentium 16 with Ad Gentes 7 as if they are opposed to each other.

It is correct to say all people need Catholic Faith and the Baptism of water to go to Heaven (Ad Gentes 7) and if there is anyone in invincible ignorance (Lumen Gentium 16) it will be known to God only and he will provide the helps necessary for salvation.

Often Catholic Answers, Tim Staples, Alan Shrek, Patrick Madrid, Catholic Culture, EWTN and the Jewish Left media repeat a heresy.

If we interpret Lumen Gentium 16 (invincible ignorance) as refering  to explicit baptism of desire and so contradicting  the dogma, then we need to observe that it  is always explicit only for God. There is no explicit, external Baptism of Desire that we can humanly know of. So LG 16 always refers to implicit Baptism of Desire, ‘in certain circumstances’ (Letter of the Holy Office 1949) and so is known only to God. Baptism of desire is only a concept for us and so in this sense it is implicit.So it does not contradict the infallible teaching which says everyone needs to be a visible, formal member of the Catholic Church to avoid Hell.

We cannot place LG 16 against AG 7 since we do not know any case of the Baptism of Desire or invincible ignorance.

So when confused Catholics say that everyone needs to enter the Catholic Church for salvation except for those…it does not make sense since explicitly or implicitly we do not know any particular case of the baptism of desire or invincible ignorance. Neither can we know whom Jesus will judge as having a good conscience on the Day of Judgment.

To repeat the above confused statement would also be an interpretation of Vatican Council II  which is  opposed to an infallible teaching which for centuries said everyone needs to be a visible member of the Church.

So it makes sense to say: everyone needs to be a visible member of the Catholic Church with no exceptions and if there is anyone with the Baptism of desire or invincible ignorance it will be known only to God.

The ‘rigorist interpretation’ of the ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus is in accord with Vatican Council II (Lumen Gentium 16, Ad Gentes 7), the Catechism of the Catholic Church (N.845,1257) and the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 to the Archbishop of Boston relative to Fr. Leonard Feeney.
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