Wednesday, June 13, 2012

If implicit desire results in only justification or also salvation - so what? It does not contradict the literal interpretation of the dogma either way

Often it is said that Fr.Leonard Feeney in The Bread of Life said implicit desire can only result in justification and not salvation. For salvation one needs the baptism of water.

I do not know to which false argument of his time among the liberals was he responding to or what was the context.

However it’s clear for me that implicit desire is always implicit for us. So whether it results in justification or salvation is in a sense irrelevant to his literal interpretation of the dogma. Implicit desire is not an explicit exception to the traditional teaching on exclusive salvation being there in only the Catholic Church and that all need to convert into this Church to avoid Hell.

Since implicit desire is a possibility and not a known reality on earth, everyone still needs to convert into the Church for salvation and there are no known exceptions.

So if someone mentions that implicit desire/baptism of desire must include the baptism of water I would say, fine. It does not contradict the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus and the traditional interpretation of the dogma- either way - as justification or salvation.

If Fr.Leonard Feeney upheld the baptism of desire since it only provides justification it is irrelevant to the literal interpretation of the dogma. If the Society of St. Pius X and the liberals say that the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 criticized Fr. Leonard Feeney for rejecting the baptism of desire and condemned him, then they are saying that the Letter of the Holy Office made an objective mistake. Since implicit desire/baptism of desire is not an exception to the centuries old interpretation of the dogma. There is no known case of implicit desire providing justification or salvation.

So if someone argues that implicit desire must include the baptism of water and others say it does not, it is irrelevant to the literal interpretation of the dogma outside the church no salvation.Everyone with no known exception needs the baptism of water for salvation.

Every adult needs the baptism of water and Catholic Faith for salvation.(AG 7, Vatican Council II).Everyone needs to convert into the Church to avoid the fires of Hell.(Cantate Domino, Council of Florence 1441 etc).-Lionel Andrades

POPE BENEDICT ASKS WHY IS IT NECESSARY TO BE BAPTIZED

The Holy Father in his discourse on Monday (June 11)  asks why is it necessary to be baptised? He asks the question and as was expected did not answer it because of the confusion that exists on this subject.

The pope inaugurated the ecclesial conference at the Basilica of St.John Lateran organised by the Rome Vicariate. Posters on church Notice Boards in Rome mention the theme of the conference: 'Andate e fate discepoli,battezzando e insegnando'-Matt.28,19-20. Go out into the whole world, teach and baptize.
The announcements called to discover the beauty of baptism.

The text of the Holy Father's address is available (1).
-Lionel Andrades
_____________________________________________

Pope Benedict on June 11 will say everyone needs the baptism of water and he will also say everyone does not need the baptism of water
The pope has to maintain the confusion because of Cardinal Richard Cushing's error.

Monday, May 28, 2012
POPE EXPECTED TO SAY NEXT MONTH NON CHRISTIAN BABIES DO NOT NEED THE BAPTISM OF WATER TO GO TO HEAVEN




When the SSPX bishops realize that there is an implicit and explicit baptism of desire magisterial texts will open up in a new way

Invincible Ignorance, the baptism of desire and a good conscience are always implicit for us and explicit for God.


The SSPX bishops and priests just refer to a baptism of desire and invincible ignorance-and they assume it is explicit.

Even other traditionalists like the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate at their Philiosophy Formation House in Boccea, Rome make the same mistake as the SSPX.

Perhaps also SSPX members are afraid. They do not want to affirm the literal interpretation  of the dogma, as the Franciscans, since then their property, interests and reputation will be targeted.

Even the website Rorate Caeli does not want to discuss this.Perhaps there could be a flood of protests.

The U.S apologists Marks Shea, Jimmy Akins and Patrick Madrid know there is no explicit baptism of desire  but they do not want to affirm the literal interpretation of the dogma.

EWTN maintains an article on the Internet which assumes invincible ignorance and the baptism of desire  are explicit for us.This is how they interpret the Church Fathers.

No Cardinal,bishop,priest or prominent apologist wants to risk his reputation and say the baptism of desire is never explicit for us.

On this issue eve Catholic Answers, Catholics United for the Faith  and many other groups are liberals.

The following is from the EWTN report Tragic Errors of Fr.Leonard Feeney.

a) Restrictive Tests of the Fathers
St. Cyprian, 6:(c. 251 AD) "The power of baptism cannot be greater or more powerful, can it, than confession [of the faith], than suffering, such that someone who confesses Christ before men, is baptized in his own blood. And yet, neither does this baptism profit a heretic, even though after confessing Christ, he is killed outside the Church."(Those who are baptized by blood are explicit for God. Those who are saved as martrys are implicit for us unless the Church declares someone a martyr. So it is not an explicit contradiction of the literal interpretation of the dogma or of Fr.Leonard Feeney).

Lactantius, 4.30.11:(c. 305-10 AD) "Whoever does not enter there [the Church] or whoever goes out from there, is foreign to the hope of life and salvation." (Explictly  every one needs to enter the Church and no one should leave it for salvation)

St. Augustine, 2.2:(c. 415 AD) "If Christ did not die for no purpose, therefore all human nature can in no way be justified and redeemed from the most just anger of God... except by faith and the sacrament of the blood of Christ." (Faith is needed explicitly for salvation.)

4.3.25:(c. 421 AD) "Nor can you prove by them that which you want, that even infidels can have true virtues." [He is speaking of gentiles in Rom. 2. 14-16, whom he thinks must mean converted gentiles.(There could be gentiles saved and these cases are implciit for us.)  Other gentiles could not have true virtues, and so could not be saved.
(Other gentiles without virtue  and wiithout faith cannot be saved.)

St. Cyril of Alexandria, 30:22:(c. 428 AD) " ... mercy is not obtainable outside the holy city." (Explicitly  every one needs to enter the Church.)

St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, , to Peter 38.81:(c. 500 AD) "Not only all pagans, but also all Jews and all heretics and schismatics, who finish their lives outside the Catholic Church, will go into eternal fire... . No one, howsoever much he may have given alms, even if he sheds his blood for the name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remains in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church." (Explicitly every one needs to enter the Church for salvation.)

ibid. 36.79: "Baptism can exist... even among heretics... but it cannot be beneficial outside the Catholic Church." (Baptism of desire or blood can exist implicitly.)

b)Restrictive Texts of the Magisterium

Pope Innocent III, (1208: DS 792): "We believe in our heart and confess in our mouth that there is one Church, not of heretics, but the Holy Roman Catholic apostolic Church, outside of which we believe no one is saved." (Explicitly every one needs to enter the Church for salvation.)

Lateran Council IV (1215: DS 802): "There is one universal Church of the faithful, outside of which no one at all is saved." (Ex cathedra. Explicitly every one needs to enter the Church for salvation).

Pope Boniface VIII, (1302: DS 870): "Outside of which there is neither salvation nor remission of sins... . But we declare, state and define that to be subject to the Roman Pontiff is altogether necessary for salvation." [The second part merely means there is no salvation outside the Church, for it is quoted from St. Thomas Aquinas, Contra errores Graecorum 36. #1125 where context shows the sense]. (Ex cathedra. Explicitly every one needs to enter the Church and there are no known (explicit) exceptions).

Pope Clement VI, , 1351: DS 1051): "No man...outside the faith of the Church and obedience to the Roman Pontiff can finally be saved." (Explicitly every one needs to enter the Church).

Council of Florence (1442: DS 1351): "It firmly believes, professes and preaches, that none who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can partake of eternal life, but they will go into eternal fire... unless before the end of life they will have been joined to it [the Church] and that the unity of the ecclesiastical body has such force that only for those who remain in it are the sacraments of the Church profitable
for salvation; and fastings, alms, and other works of piety and exercises of the Christian soldiery bring forth eternal rewards [only] for them. 'No one, howsoever much almsgiving he has done, even if he sheds his blood for Christ, can be saved, unless he remains in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church. '" [Internal quote at end is from Fulgentius, as we saw above].
(Ex Cathedra. Explicitly every one needs to enter the Church and there are no known exceptions).

Broad Texts of the Magisterium

Pope Pius IX, (1863: DS 2866): "God...in His supreme goodness and clemency, by no means allows anyone to be punished with eternal punishments who does not have the guilt of voluntary fault. (A person can be saved in ignorance and this would be implicit) But it is also a Catholic dogma, that no one outside the Catholic Church can be saved, and that those who are contumacious against the authority of the same Church [and] definitions and who are obstinately separated from the unity of this Church and from the Roman Pontiff, successor of Peter, to whom the custody of the vineyard was entrusted by the Savior, cannot obtain eternal salvation."
(Explicitly everyone needs to enter the Church for salvation).

Pope Pius XII, (1943: DS 3821): "They who do not belong to the visible bond of the Catholic Church... [we ask them to] strive to take themselves from that state in which they cannot be sure of their own eternal salvation; for even though they are ordered to the mystical body of the Redeemer by a certain desire and wish of which they are not aware [implicit in the general wish to do what God wills], yet they lack so many and so great heavenly gifts and helps which can be enjoyed only in the Catholic Church."
 (Those who do not belong to the visible bond of the Catholic Church and who are saved are implicit for us. So they are not exceptions to the defined dogma on salvation or to Fr.Leonard Feeney.)

Holy Office, Aug 9, 1949, condemning doctrine of L. Feeney (DS 3870):"It is not always required that one be actually incorporated as a member of the Church, but this at least is required: that one adhere to it in wish and desire.
(A person can be saved with implicit desire. The text says it is not explicit.
So this is not an explicit exception tot he dogma or Fr.Leonard Feeney. The text does state that Fr.Leonard was beign condemned for doctrine.)

 It is not always necessary that this be explicit...
(It is never explcit but always implicit).

 but when a man labors under invincible ignorance, God accepts even an implicit will, called by that name because it is contained in the good disposition of soul in which a man wills to conform his will to the will of God."
(A person can be saved with an implicit will and it will be implcit for us. So it is not even an issue with respect to the dogma or Fr. Leonard Feeney's literal interpretationof the dogma.)

Vatican II, #16: (1964 AD) For they who without their own fault do not know of the Gospel of Christ and His Church, but yet seek God with sincere heart, and try, under the influence of grace, to carry out His will in practice, known to them through the dictate of conscience, can attain eternal salvation."
( Those who are ignorance or have a good conscience are implcit. So they cannot be defacto, explicit exceptions to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus).

John Paul II, #10 (Dec. 7, 1990): "The universality of salvation means that it is granted not only to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the church. Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to all.
(Salvation in potential is available for all -implicit and explicit)

 But it is clear that today, as in the past, many people do not have an opportunity to come to know or accept the Gospel revelation or to enter the church... . For such people, salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the church, does not make them formally a part of the church, but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit.
(They can be saved with grace and it would be implicit. These cases are not explcit exceptions to the literal interpretation of the text of the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.Neither are they an exception to the 'rigorist interpretation' of Fr.Leonard Feeney).

It enables each person to attain salvation through his or her free cooperation." [emphasis added].
(Yes every one is free to cooperate. Those who are explicit members of the Church can be saved since they responded to God's grace. Those who are saved implicitly and unknown to us are not exceptions to the dogma which says there is exclusive salvation in only the Catholic Church and everyone on earth needs to be an explicit member. )

Broad Texts of the Fathers
Pope St. Clement I, 7.5-7 (c. 95 AD): "Let us go through all generations, and learn that in generation and generation the Master has given a place of repentance to those willing to turn to Him. Noah preached repentance, and those who heard him were saved.

Jonah preached repentance to the Ninevites; those who repented for their sins appeased God in praying, and received salvation, even though they were aliens [allotrioi] of God."
(Those who repent and are saved are implicit and explcit only for God).

St. Justin Martyr, 1.46 (c. 150 AD): "Christ is the Logos [Divine Word] of whom the whole race of men partake. Those who lived according to Logos are Christians, even if they were considered atheists, such as, among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus."
(Those who were heretics and atheists and who were saved (if they repented or converted before they died for any other reason) are implicit cases and so cannot be considered exceptions to the dogma.
Socrates and Heraclitus, if they are in Heaven now, had to wait for the Messiah. It was only after the Resurrection that they could go to Heaven)

2.10:" Christ... was and is the Logos who is in everyone, and foretold through the prophets the things that were to come, and taught these things in person after becoming like to us in feeling."

(Christ was and is the Logos who is in everyone but not every one will go to Heaven. Hell exists. Those who convert into the Church are on the path to Paradise if they die without a mortal sin on their soul. If they have not availed of the Sacrament of Reconcillitaion in the Catholic Church they are on the way to Hell).

Shepherd of Hermas, 2.4.1:(c. 140-55 AD): The angel asks Hermas who he thinks the old woman was who appeared. He thought it was the Sibyl: "You are wrong... . It is the Church. I said to him: Why then an old woman? He said: Because she was created first of all; for this reason she is an old woman, and because of her the world was established."
(The Church is needed for salvation implicitly and explicitly)

14.2 (prob. c 150 A.D. ): "The books of the prophets and the apostles [say] that the Church is not [only] now, but from the beginning. She was spiritual, like also our Jesus. She was manifested in the last days to save us."
(Explicit entry into this Church is needed for all in 2012 for salvation.)

St. Irenaeus, 4.28.2: (c. 140-202 AD): "There is one and the same God the Father and His Logos, always assisting the human race, with varied arrangements, to be sure, and doing many things, and saving from the beginning those who are saved, for they are those who love and, according to their generation (genean) follow His Logos." Ibid. 4.6.7: "For the Son, administering all things for the Father, completes [His work] from the beginning to the end... .
(God assists all but for salvation all need to respond and explicitly enter the Church. Dominus Iesus 20).

For the Son, assisting to His own creation from the beginning,reveals the Father to all to whom He wills." Ibid. 4. 22. 2: "Christ came not only for those who believed from the time of Tiberius
Caesar, nor did the Father provide only for those who are now, but for absolutely all men from the beginning, who, according to their ability, feared and loved God and lived justly... and desired to see Christ and to hear His voice."
(Those who feared  and loved God and lived justly and who are saved are possibilities which are always implicit for us).

Clement of Alexandria, 7.17:(c. 20-11 AD): "From what has been said, I think it is clear that there is one true Church, which is really ancient, into which those who are just according to design are enrolled." Ibid 1. 5: "Before the coming of the Lord, philosophy was necessary for justification to the Greeks; now it is useful for piety... for it brought the Greeks to Christ as the law did the Hebrews." Ibid. 1.20.99:" Philosophy of itself made the Greeks just,though not to total justice; it is found to be a helper to this, like the first and second steps for one ascending to the upper part of the house, and like the elementary teacher for the [future]
philosopher]."
(Those who are just and who have received grace for salvation are explicit only for God.They do not contradict the dogma.)

Origen, 2.11-12: (c. 240 AD): "Do not think I speak of the spouse or the Church [only] from the coming of the Savior in the flesh, but from the beginning of the human race, in fact, to seek out the origin of this mystery more deeply with Paul as leader, even before the foundation of the world."

(The Church is necessary for salvation. One needs to enter the Church explicitly.One cannot choose to enter the Church implicitly with the baptism of desire etc.Catholic Faith and the baptism of water are needed for all. AG 7,Vatican Council II.)

4.7: (c. 248 AD): "... there never was a time when God did not will to make just the life of men. But He always cared, and gave occasions of virtue to make the reasonable one right. For generation by generation this wisdom of God came to souls it found holy and made them friends of God and prophets."
( The reasonable one, the righteous one who is saved is an implicit case for us.)

, 9-10:(after 244 AD) [the law was written on hearts: Cf. Rom 2:14-16] "that they must not commit murder or adultery, not steal, not speak false testimony, that they honor father and mother, and similar things... and it is shown that each one is to be judged not according to a privilege of nature, but by his own thoughts he is accused or excused, by the testimony of his conscience."
( Those who are saved by the testimony of his conscience is implicit. We can accept this in principle, dejure. Defacto we do not known any explcit case.)

Homily on Numbers 16.1: (after 244 AD): "Since God wants grace to abound, He sees fit to be present... . He is present not to the [pagan] sacrifices, but to the one who comes to meet Him, and there He gives His word [Logos?]."
(God can give the pagan grace to be converted and saved. This would be explicit only for God. So this is not an explicit exception to the 'rigorist interpretation' of the dogma).

Hegemonius (?) 28: (c. 325-50 AD): "From the creation of the world He has always been with just men... .Were they not made just from the fact that they kept the law, 'Each one of them showing the work of the law on their hearts... ?'[cf. Rom 2.14-16] For when someone who does not have the law does by nature the things of the law, this one, not having the law, is a law for himself... . For if we judge that a man is made just without the works of the law... how much more will they attain justice who fulfilled the law containing those things which are expedient for men?"
(If there is such an exceptional person saved it is implicit. It is an exception in theory, in principle and we accept it in faith. Explicitly we cannot meet such a person. These cases are known only in Heaven.)

Arnobius, 2.63:(c. 305 AD): "But, they say :If Christ was sent by God for this purpose, to deliver unhappy souls from the destruction of ruin - what did former ages deserve which before His coming were consumed in the condition of mortality? ... .

Put aside thee cares, and leave the questions you do not understand; for royal mercy was imparted to them, and the divine benefits ran equally through all. They were conserved, they were liberated, and they put aside the sort and condition of mortality."
(Those who were saved ad mentioned above are known only to God. They are explicit only for God.So it cannot be implied that these cases are explicit exceptions to the dogma.)

Eusebius of Caesarea, 1.1.4:(c. 311-25 AD): "But even if we [Christians] are certainly new, and this really new name of Christian is just recently known among the nations, yet our life and mode of conduct, in accord with the precepts of religion, has not been recently invented by us; but from the first creation of man, so to speak, it is upheld by natural inborn concepts of the ancient men who loved God, as we will here show... . But if someone would describe as Christians those who are testified to as having been righteous, [going back] from Abraham to the first man, he would not hit wide of the mark."

(There could be such persons saved and it would never be explicit for us. So it is irrelevant to mention it with respect to the literal interpretation of the dogma.)

St. Gregory of Nazianzus, 18.5 [at funeral of his father, a convert]:(c. 374 AD): "He was ours even before he was of our fold.

His way of living made him such. For just as many of ours are not with us, whose life makes them other from our body [the Church], so many of those outside belong to us, who by their way of life anticipate the faith and need [only] the name, having the reality."
('So many of those outside belong to us', yes and they could be in Heaven and are unknown to us.If these cases are unknown on earth in our times they do contradict the thrice defined dogma on extra ecclesiam nulla salus).

8.20 [on his sister Gorgonia]: "Her whole life was a purification for her, and a perfecting. She had indeed the regeneration of the Spirit, and the assurance of this from her previous life. And, to speak boldly, the mystery [baptism] was for her practically only the seal, not the grace."
(It is not known if he is referring to the baptism of desire which is implicit. So EWTN, Fr.Most cannot imply that the baptism of desire is an explicit exception to the dogma or to Fr.Leonard Feeney.
If Fr.Leonard Feeney rejected the baptism of desire it is irrelevant to his traditional interpretation.
If the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 assumed that the baptism of desire is an explicit exception to the dogma it would be an objective mistake).
St. John Chrysostom, . 5: (c. 391 AD): "For this reason they are wonderful, he [Paul, in Romans 2:14-16] says, because they did not need the law, and they show all the works of the law... . Do you not see how again he makes present that day [Judgment in 2.16] and brings it near... and showing that they should rather be honored who without the law hastened to carry out the things of the law? ...Conscience and reasoning suffice in place of the law. Through these things he showed again that God made man self-sufficient in regard to the choice of virtue and fleeing evil... . He shows that even in these early times and before the giving of the law, men enjoyed complete Providence. For 'what is knowable of God' was clear to them, and what was good and what was evil they knew."

(Conscience, reasoning and the law: if there are such cases saved the writer of this article should not imply that they are defacto, known exceptions to the dogma or to the traditional, centuries old interpretation of the dogma.)
Homilies on John 8.1: ( c. 389 AD): "Why, then, the gentiles accuse us saying: What was Christ doing in former times, not taking care...? We will reply: Even before He was in the world, He took thought for His works, and was known to all who were worthy."

(Even before Christ was in the world there could have been people worthy of salvation. The writer of this article must not assume that these implicit cases are explcit exceptions to the literal interpretation of the dogma)

St. Ambrose, 2.3.11:(after 375 AD): "Our price is the blood of Christ... . Therefore He brought the means of health to all so that whoever perishes, must ascribe the cause of his death to himself, for he was unwilling to be cured when he had a remedy... .
For the mercy of Christ is clearly proclaimed on all."
(The mercy of Christ is available for all in potential. Those who respond by converting and entering the Catholic Church avail of Christ's mercy. After death it is the time of Justice).

St. Augustine, 18.47: (413-26 AD): "Nor do I think the Jews would dare to argue that no one pertained to God except the Israelites, from the time that Israel came to be... they cannot deny that there were certain men even in other nations who pertained to the true Israelites, the citizens of the fatherland above, not by
earthly but by heavenly association."
(These men in other nations who were saved, it isbeing implied by the writer, are explicit exceptions to Fr.Leonard Feeney's interpretation).
1.13.3: (426-27 AD): "This very thing which is now called the Christian religion existed among the ancients, nor was it lacking from the beginning of the human race until Christ Himself came in the flesh, when the true religion, that already existed, began to be called Christian."

(Every one needs Catholic Faith and the baptism of water for salvation (AG 7, Vatican Council II) and if there were cases saved in ancient times they would be explicit only to God. The writer cannot imply that these are explcit cases).

102.11-13, 15: (406-12 AD): "Wherefore since we call Christ the Word [Logos], through whom all things were made... under whose rule [was/is] every creature, spiritual and corporal... so those from the beginning of the human race who believed in Him and understood His somewhat [utcumque] and lived according to His precepts devoutly and justly, whenever and wherever they were, beyond doubt they were saved through Him... . And yet from the beginning of the human race thee were not lacking persons who believed in Him, from Adam up to Moses, both in the very people of Israel... and in other nations before He came in the flesh."
(Same as above)

St. Prosper of Aquitaine, 2.5: (c. 450 AD): "... according to it [Scripture] ... we believe and devoutly confess that never was the care of divine providence lacking to the totality of men... . To these, however [who have not yet heard of Christ] that general measure of help, which is always given from above to all men, is not denied."
(The writer assumes that those 'who have not yet heard of Christ' are explicit exceptions to the dogmatic teaching. Then he later slanders Fr.Leonard Feeney).
St. Nilus, . 154:(perhaps c. 430 AD): "In every nation the one who fears God and does justice is acceptable to Him. For it is clear that such a one is acceptable to God and is not to be cast aside, who at his own right time flees to the worship of the blessed knowledge of God."

(In every nation there can be persons who fear God and they can be saved. The writer assumes that these implcit cases are explicit).
St. Cyril of Alexandria, 3.107: (433-41 AD): "For if there is One over all, and there is no other besides Him, He would be Master of all, because He was Maker of all. For He is also the God of the gentiles, and has fully satisfied by laws implanted in their hearts, which the Maker has engraved in the hearts of all [cf. Rom 2.14-16]. For when the gentiles, [Paul] says, not having the law, do by nature the things of the law, they show the work of the law written on their hearts. But since He is not only the Maker and God
of the Jews [cf. Rom 3.29] but also of the gentiles... He sees fit by His providence to care not only for those who are of the blood of Israel, but also for all those upon the earth."
(Yes even the Gentiles can be saved, today and they are implicit cases. The ordinary means of salvation is Catholic Faith and the baptism of water; explicit entrry into the Catholic Church).
Theodoret of Cyrus, 2.14-16:(425-50 AD): "For they who, before the Mosaic law, adorned their life with devout reasonings and good actions, testify that the divine law called for action, and they became lawgivers for themselves... . He [St. Paul] shows that the law of nature was written on hearts... . According to this image, let us describe the future judgment and the conscience of those accepting the charge and proclaiming the justice of the decision."
(Again we should not imply that those saved in this category are defacto,known exceptions to the dogma).
6.85-86:(429-37 AD): "But if you say: Why then did not the Maker of all fulfill this long ago? You are blaming even the physicians, since they keep the stronger medicines for last; having used the milder things first, they bring out the stronger things last. The all-wise Healer of our souls did this too. After employing various medicines... finally He brought forth this all-powerful and saving medicine.
(Context unclear)
Pope St. Leo the Great, 23.4: (440-61 AD): "So God did not take care of human affairs by a new plan, or by late mercy, but from the foundation of the world He established one and the same cause of salvation for all. For the grace of God by which the totality of the saints always had been justified was increased when Christ was born, but did not begin [then]."

('The same cause of salvation for all' is explcit entry into the Catholic Church.)
Pope St. Gregory the Great, . 15: (540-604 AD): "When He descended to the underworld, the Lord delivered from the prison only those who while they lived in the flesh He had kept through His grace in faith and good works."
(Those who had the grace of Catholic Faith and good works in Purgatory were saved).

2.3: "The passion of the Church began already with Abel, and there is one Church of the elect, of those who
precede, and of those who follow... . They were, then, outside, but yet not divided from the holy Church, because in mind, in work, in preaching, they already held the sacraments of faith, and saw that loftiness of Holy Church."

(We cannot say that every one since the time of Abel went to Heaven. This knowledge is implcit for us.)
Primasius, Bishop of Hadrumetum, 2.14-16:(c. 560 AD): "'By nature they do the things of the law... . ' He [Paul] speaks either of those who keep the law of nature, who do not do to others what they do not want to be done to themselves; or, that even the gentiles naturally praise the good and condemn the wicked, which is
the work of the law; or, of those who even now, when they do anything good, profess that they have received from God the means of pleasing God... . 'And their thoughts in turn accusing or even defending, on
the day when God will judge the hidden things of men.' He speaks of altercations of thought... . and according to these we are to be judged on the day of the Lord."
(Those with a good conscience etc and who are saved are implicit cases. They are not relevant to the literal interpretation of the dogma according to the Church Councils, the saints, Vatican Council I and II, the Catechisms of the Catholic Church and Fr.Leonard Feeney and the St.Benedict Center).

St. John Damascene, 11:(late 7th cent. to 754 AD): "The creed teaches us to believe also in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic church of God. The Catholic Church cannot be only apostolic, for the all-powerful might of her Head, which is Christ, is able through the Apostles to save the whole world. So there is a
Holy Catholic Church of God, the assembly of the Holy Fathers who are from the ages, of the patriarchs, of prophets, apostles, evangelists, martyrs, to which are added all the gentiles who believe the same way."
(The one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church has always taught that explicit entry into the Church is necessary for all. )

-Lionel Andrades