Catholics are bound to believe everything the Pope says in "ex cathedra."
This makes you wonder how many Catholics, including priests, really believe this one...why?
Because of this....
Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos (#7), Aug. 15, 1832: “… nothing of the things appointed ought to be diminished; nothing changed; nothing added; but they must be preserved both as regards expression and meaning.”
....And this....
Pope Pius IX, First Vatican Council, Sess. 3, Chap. 2 on Revelation, 1870,ex cathedra: “Hence, also, that understanding of its sacred dogmas must be perpetually retained, which Holy Mother Church has once declared; and there must never be a recession from that meaning under the specious name of a deeper understanding.” (Denz. 1800).
Oh...and this, too...
“Why did Athanasius know he was right? Because he clung to the infallible definition, no matter what everyone else said. Not all the learning in the world, nor all the rank of office, can substitute for the truth of one infallibly defined Catholic teaching. Even the simplest member of the faithful, clinging to an infallible definition, will know more than the most ‘learned’ theologian who denies or undermines the definition. That is the whole purpose of the Church’s infallibly defined teaching –to make us independent of the mere opinions of men, however learned, however high their rank.” (The Devil’s Final Battle, p. 183. )
Maybe this will help a lot of confused Catholics, who listen to wayward and liberal priests who teach that a defined dogma doesn't mean, literally, what is actually defined ....in fact...these wayward and liberal priests, go about explaining to their starry-eyed groupies the dogma in such a twisted manner that he ends up teaching just the direct opposite of what the defined dogma says, and intends to teach. Then, yet another priest will flavor that definition by the groupie priest and add a twist or turn to it so that it even extends to that which has been condemned, under the veil of a "deeper meaning" that the lay has not been trained to decipher.
This modern phenomenon is demonstrated here by St. Francis De Sales...
St. Francis De Sales (Doctor of the Church), The Catholic Controversy, c. 1602, p. 228: “The Councils… decide and define some article. If after all this another test has to be tried before their [the Council’s] determination is received, will not another also be wanted? Who will not want to apply his test, andwhenever will the matter be settled?... And why not a third to know if the second is faithful? – and then a fourth, to test the third? Everything must be done over again, and posterity will never trust antiquity but will go ever turning upside down the holiest articles of faith in the wheel oftheir understandings…what we say is that when a Council has applied this test, our brains have not now to revise but to believe.”
This is where we are in 2017, in today's liberal Catholicism.
Now, having established, from the actual Catholic Traditional Church teachings, what and how we are to believe....let us proceed to some of these defined dogmas that we are not allowed to veer from, in any sense...but, rather...receive them in their literal sense, without any need of interpretation, whatsoever....
Pope Eugene IV,Council of Florence, “Cantate Domino,” 1441,ex cathedra:
“The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the Church before the end of their lives; that the unity of this ecclesiastical body is of such importance that only for those who abide in it do the Church’s sacraments contribute to salvation and do fasts, almsgiving and other works of piety and practices of the Christian militia productive of eternal rewards; and that nobody can be saved, no matter how much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.”
And we are able to offer this one....
Pope Eugene IV,Council of Florence, Sess. 8, Nov. 22, 1439,ex cathedra: “Whoeverwishes to be saved, needs above all to hold the Catholic faith; unless each one preserves this whole and inviolate, he will without a doubt perish in eternity.– But the Catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in the Trinity, and the Trinity in unity; neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance; for there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit, their glory is equal, their majesty coeternal...and in this Trinity there is nothing first or later, nothing greater or less, but all three persons are coeternal and coequal with one another, so that in every respect, as has already been said above, both unity in Trinity, and Trinity in unity must be worshipped. Therefore let him who wishes to be saved, think thus concerning the Trinity.
“But it is necessary for eternal salvation that he faithfully believe also in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ...the Son of God is God and man...This is the Catholic faith; unless each one believes this faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.”
You may immediately notice, that no exceptions were ever mentioned in any of the dogmatic definitions on salvation. Quit to the contrary, all exceptions were always excluded, across the board. It is true that people can be ignorant of certain aspects of the Catholic Faith, as in, certain dogmas. However, no one who is willfully ignorant of the essential mysteries of the Catholic Faith – or who rejects another dogma of the Catholic Faith – can ultimately be saved. The Trinity as well as the Incarnation make up the Catholic Faith in terms of its simplest mysteries. No man above the age of reason, no one who “wishes to be saved,” can be saved without a belief in these mysteries of Catholic Faith.
Pope Eugene IV,Council of Florence, Sess. 8, Nov. 22, 1439,ex cathedra: “Whoever wishes to be saved, needs above all to hold the Catholic faith; unless each one preserves this whole and inviolate, he will without a doubt perish in eternity.– But the Catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in the Trinity, and the Trinity in unity; neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance; for there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit, their glory is equal, their majesty coeternal...and in this Trinity there is nothing first or later, nothing greater or less, but all three persons are coeternal and coequal with one another, so that in every respect, as has already been said above, both unity in Trinity, and Trinity in unity must be worshipped. Therefore let him who wishes to be saved, think thus concerning the Trinity.
“But it is necessary for eternal salvation that he faithfully believe also in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ...the Son of God is God and man...This is the Catholic faith; unless each one believes this faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.”
This ex cathreda definition of the Athanasian Creed at the ecumenical Council of Florence means that this Creed qualifies as a pronouncement from the Chair of St. Peter (an ex cathedra pronouncement).To deny that which is professed in the Athanasian Creed is to no longer be considered a Catholic. The Creed plainly declares that whoever wishes to be saved needs to hold the Catholic Faith as well as believe in the Trinity and the Incarnation. Notice the phrase in the wording, “whoever wishes to be saved” ( the Latin reads quicunque vult salvus esse).
This verbiage is without a doubt the working and inspiration of the Holy Ghost. It says that everyone who can “wish” must believe in the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation in order to be saved.This does not include infants and those below the age of reason,since they cannot wish! Infants are to be considered to be among the Catholic faithful, since they do receive the gift of the Catholic Faith as they, through their sponsors, requested, at the Sacrament of Baptism. This includes Protestant infants who are properly Baptized, as they have not rejected any Catholic truths. Being below the age of reason, they cannot make any act of faith in the Catholic mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation, an act which is absolutely necessary for the salvation of all above the age of reason, for all who wish to be saved. This would also apply to those who are mentally incapable of making the cognizant choices one does who "wishes" to do so. Is it not amazing how God worded this Creed’s teaching on the necessity of belief in the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation in a way that would not include infants? The Creed, therefore, teaches that everyone above the age of reason must have a knowledge and belief in the mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation to be saved, and there are no exceptions.This creed, therefore, eliminates the theory of invincible ignorance, that one above the age of reason can be saved without knowing Christ or the true Faith, and further renders those who preach it unable to profess this creed with honesty.
Furthermore, the very fact that no one who wishes to be saved can be saved without a knowledge and belief in the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation is the reason why the Holy Office under Pope Clement XI taught that a missionary must explain these absolutely necessary mysteries to an adult who is at the point of death, before baptism. They can't just go ahead and baptize them without a certain base understanding and acceptance of certain truths.
Response of the Sacred Office to the Bishop of Quebec, Jan. 25, 1703:
“Q. Whether a minister is bound, before baptism is conferred on an adult, to explain to him all the mysteries of our faith, especially if he is at the point of death, because this might disturb his mind. Or, whether it is sufficient, if the one at the point of death will promise that when he recovers from the illness, he will take care to be instructed, so that he might put into practice what has been commanded him.
“A. A promise is not sufficient, but a missionary is bound to explain to an adult, even a dying one who is not entirely incapacitated,the mysteries of faith which are necessary by a necessity of means, as are especially the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation.” (Denz. 1349a)
So...you ask..."How bad does it get?
I'll answer....well...really bad..... read on and see why the SSPX, the FSSP and so many off-shoots of them are, more or less, forced to hold to this heretical position by the founder of the SSPX...
Bishop Marcel Lefebvre (SSPX), Against the Heresies, page 216: “Evidently,certain distinctions must be made. Souls can be saved in a religion other than the Catholic religion (Protestantism, Islam, Buddhism, etc.), but not by this religion. There may be souls who, not knowing Our Lord, have by the grace of the good Lord, good interior dispositions, who submit to God...But some of these persons make an act of love which implicitly is equivalent to baptism of desire. It is uniquely by this means that they are able to be saved.”
This is simply heretical and is a crass denial of the Catholic Faith, the very foundational dogma of the Faith, extra ecclesium nulla salus. Is it any wonder that so many Traditionalists (almost all, including these poor priests, who, if they do not believe as Archb. Lefebvre, they dare not speak out, as they will immediately be thrown out like they were heretics, and yet, the very opposite is true....the leaders of these groups hold to the heresy.) are in the quagmire of error, since the founder of the Traditionalist movement made it a requirement of all their seminarians to hold to the same heretical error their founder held to?
So...what are faithful Catholics to do? Jesus Christ made it very simple. Believe the defined dogmas "as they are written"....believe them, in spite of any fallible opinions of priests, Bishops, or Council....hold strictly to the Faith, without compromise, and....for the Love of the Truth....
....Go on the offensive....do not be in a defensive mode in this battle for the truth.....stand your ground and graciously, and with calm charitable conviction....explain to any and all who will listen, when the subject can be brought up....or, even bring it up for discussion....and then....don't back down. This is the Faith, "once delivered to the saints"...this is the Faith we can die for....and we are willing to do so, with joy and love of God in our hearts.
-Bob Semrad
Galatians 1: 6 I wonder that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel.7 Which is not another, only there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema.9 As we said before, so now I say again: If any one preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema.
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