If the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 implied that the dead are physically visible then it is an error : Religious Education in Rome

If the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 implied that the dead are physically visible then it is an error

If the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 to the Archbishop of Boston was implying that the baptism of desire was physically visible and so an exception to the literal interpretation of Fr. Leonard Feeney then it made an objective error. The dead are not physically visible to us to be exceptions, to every one needing to be a visible member of the Church to go to Heaven and avoid Hell.

Generally liberals, the Left, the secular media and the SSPX interpret the Letter of the Holy Office as a break with the past.

It would be a break with the past if the Letter stated that the baptism of desire etc are physically explicit for us: that they are visible and so are exceptions to everyone needing to be a visible member of the Church .The text of the Letter does not mention it. So the Letter does not state that there are visible exceptions to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus or that we can know these cases explicitly. The progressivists go ahead and make the false assumption.

It is commonly assumed with the help of the media that the baptism of desire etc is physically visible to us and so this is an exception to the traditional teaching on exclusive salvation being there in only the Catholic Church.

So the Letter of the Holy Office it is often said ‘condemned’ Fr. Leonard Feeney. It really corrected him for disobedience to the Archbishop and he was not excommunicated for heresy.

This error is being taught by the Paulist Fathers and is part of the formation in Rome for young people in religious education classes.

-Lionel Andrades