FAITH DENIED TODAY BEFORE THE TOMB OF ST.JOHN LEONARDI

Before the tomb of St.John Leonardi the founder of Propaganda Fide,Rome the faith was denied today morning.I asked a lay guide of the Church Santa Maria in Portico in Campitelli, Rome if the body of the saint was visible above the altar. He said it was kept withing the altar, below. I asked him if the saint believed in the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.He said yes at that time it was believed in.

So I mentioned that the community of the saint today, does not believe in the dogma anymore.He said they do. Do  they believe that every one needs to enter the Church to avoid Hell ? He answered no.This was not the interpretation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The Church in which we were speaking houses the Curia General of the community the saint founded now known as Ordine della Madre di Dio .Initially the saint used the dogma against the ‘Lutheran proselytism’ .

Fr.Davide Carbonari a former Parish Priest of the Church and a member of this community has said that Vatican Council II does not contradict the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus and we do not know any case of a person saved in invincible ignorance and the baptism of desire.In principle we can accept that a person could be saved in invincible ignorance and this would be known only to God.

Today the young man who was explaining the history of the Church probably believes that the Catechism of the Catholic Church 846 says all who are saved are saved though Jesus and the Church and this statement contradicts the dogma as known by Saint John Leonardi.It does not.

There are many Catholics who believe that since ‘we know’ people saved in invincible ignorance not everyone needs to enter the Church but only those ‘who know’.Complicated reasoning?!

CCC 846 quotes Ad Gentes 7 which says all need to enter the Church as through a door. This was the saint’s understanding of the dogma. All need to enter the Church as through a door.

CCC 846 cites AG 7 which says all need Catholic faith and the baptism of water for salvation. Again this is in agreement with the dogma as known to the saint who was a catechist and evangeliser. He founded Propaganda Fide which later became the Urbaniana Pontifical College, Rome.

This missionary university now teaches that there is a 'development of doctrine' with reference to the dogma. They claim, in their Handbook for this year, that Vatican Council II has changed the dogma indicating that Lumen Gentium 16 is an exception.This was not St.John Leonardi’s understanding of the dogma.It is also interpreting Vatican Council II as a liberal Council and not a traditional Council.Urbaniana assumes that those saved in invincible ignorance etc are known to us and so an explicit exception to the dogma on salvation -Lionel Andrades