American seminarian

Yesterday morning I was talking to an American seminarian at the North American College, Rome we were walking in the direction of the Gregorian University where he was studying theology. It was just six months for him in Rome.I told him I believed that all the non Catholics in Rome were oriented to Hell and asked him if he shared my belief.

He said we cannot judge . I agreed with him. I personally cannot judge but I hold this belief because this is the teaching of the Catholic Church. He asked me to explain myself. So I quoted Vatican Council II (AG 7,LG 14), the Catechism of the Catholic Church (845,846) Dominus Iesus 20 and the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.

I mentioned that LG 16,LG 8,AG 11 are not exceptions to AG 7 and LG 14 since we do not known any of these cases in 2012. So there are no exceptions to AG 7 which says all need faith and baptism for salvation. All means all.

So since the Church inspired by the Holy Spirit says that they all need to convert for salvation I hold the same view.

This was the first time in his life that he heard all this!-Lionel Andrades