Catholic Legate cites three defined dogmas.
Preface
The Rigorist position holds that only those baptized with water will be saved in accordance with Our Lord's words in John 3:5: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God." Proponents of the position also appeal to many patristic texts as well as to the three declarations of the dogma of "No Salvation Outside the Church" which has been defined by the Catholic Church in the medieval period of her history. The following piece presents a number of objections to the strict view of "No Salvation Outside the Church" and absolute necessity of water baptism.-John Pacecho
Objection 1
The three official definitions, presented in Appendix 1, are often cited by the Rigorists in support of their position. The citations, however, are done so either ignoring the Magisterium's intended meaning or out of their historical context.
i) Pope Innocent III - Lateran Council IV (AD 1215) - The 12th Ecumenical Council of the Church:
In relation to baptism only seven years prior to this decree, this same Pope Innocent III wrote in 1208 AD: "A certain Jew, when at the point of death, since he lived only among Jews, immersed himself in water, while saying I baptize myself in the name of the Father, and the Son, and in the Holy Spirit.. We respond that since there should be a distinction between the one baptizing and the one baptized, as clearly gathered from the words of the Lord when said "Go baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit." The Jew must be baptized again by another. If however such a one had died immediately he would have rushed to his heavenly home without delay because of the faith of the sacrament although not because of the sacrament of faith." (D413)
Lionel: Being saved in invincible ignorance is not an exception to the rigorist interpretation of Lateran Council IV (1215 AD).
John Pacecho:
Clearly, then, the Pope is affirming the efficacy of baptism by desire.
Lionel:
The efficacy of the baptism of desire is not disputed. In principle (de jure ) it is accepted. De facto (in reality) we do not know any case which can be an exception to the dogma which says all need to enter the Church.
ii) Pope Boniface VIII - Papal Bull Unam Sanctum, 1302:
This document had nothing to do with condemning heretics or pagans or Jews. Its origin was precipitated by a dispute between the Pope and King Philip IV over money - taxation to be exact. The dispute then developed into the Philip's attack on Papal jurisdiction in the Church itself. This is the context within which the Pope issued his decree: it was directed at those who have heard and understood what the Catholic Church teaches. That is why, for instance, the Pope mentions the Greeks who explicitly reject papal authority.
Lionel: The Church’s teaching on the Holy Trinity, approved by a Council, and the Catholic Church’s dogma on Hell, was also issued in the context of those particular times. They reflect truths of the Catholic Faith which are eternal. Similarly the Papal Bull Unam Sanctum 1302 is saying for salvation all need to be subject to the pope. All need to be in the Catholic Church.
iii) Pope Eugene IV, the Bull - Cantate Domino, 1441:
The context of the Bull is clearly directed at heretics who attack the Christological dogmas of the Church including Jesus' person and hypostatic union. All of these heresies mentioned had contact with the full gospel and many (such as the Arians, Manichaeans, and Monophystes) were anathematized. All of these sects have heard the message, but have refused to enter the Church despite that fact. This is the context that one must interpret the Pope's anathema to the pagans and the Jews. It presumes that the individuals within these groups have also heard and understood the Church, but obstinately reject her. It is to these individuals that the anathema applies.
Lionel: All the three defined dogmas including Cantate Domino 1441 were written in the context of their time and with the same message: the necessity of entering the Catholic Church for salvation. Cantate Domino mentions the need specifically for Jews and other Christians to convert into the Catholic Church to avoid the fires of Hell.
This teaching is similar to that of Vatican Council II (Ad Gentes 7, Lumen Gentium 14) on the need for all, all people, to have Catholic Faith and the baptism of water for salvation(to avoid Hell).
Being saved in invincible ignorance is not a defacto exception to the teaching of Cantate Domino, Council of Florence.The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church. -Cantate Domino, Council of Florence.
-Lionel Andrades
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