One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic: Catholic Theology-WIKIPEDIA
Section 8 of the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium stated that "the one Church of Christ which in the Nicene Creed is professed as "one, holy, catholic and apostolic" subsists "in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him." (The term successor of Peter refers to the Bishop of Rome, the pope; see Petrine theory).
Protestants reject the Catholic Church's dogma that Jesus Christ established "only one church", which the Catholic Church identifies as itself.[157]
They also rejected the doctrinal statement issued by Pope Benedict XVI, which states that only the Catholic Church could be called the "church".[158] Protestants argued that the pope is wrong, and that they were legitimate churches as well.[159]
Although the Catholic Church establishes, believes and teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church,[160] and "the sole Church of Christ", it also believes that the Holy Spirit can extend grace to those outside of the Church by extraordinary, extra sacramental means.
Lionel: If there is salvific grace outside the Catholic Church it would be known only to God. It would be invisible for us on earth. So it would not be an exception or relevant to the strict interpretation of the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
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In Lumen gentium, the Catholic Church acknowledges that the Holy Spirit is active among the ecclesiastical communities separated from itself, though the Holy Spirit's work among them is to "impel towards Catholic unity" and thus bring them to salvation. The document also calls for ecumenical dialogue amongst all Christians.
Lionel: Again we have to keep the visible-invisible distinction before us.Since there can be two interpretations of this passage. It can be interpreted with Feeneyism or Cushingism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_theology
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EXTRA ECCLESIAM NULLA SALUS -WIKIPEDIA
The Latin phrase extra Ecclesiam nulla salus means: "outside the Church there is no salvation".[1][2] The 1997 Catechism of the Catholic Church explained this as "all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body."[3]
Lionel: Since Cardinal Ratzinger assumed that invisible cases of the baptism of desire and blood and being saved in invincible ignorance referred to visible and known cases, for him there was salvation outside the Church. So to accomodate this irrationality he says all salvation comes from Christ' as if every one does not need to enter the Church to avoid Hell. We can be aware of the error and re-interpret CCC 846 when reading the Catechism.
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The Catholic Church also teaches that the doctrine does not mean that everyone who is not visibly within the Church is necessarily damned in case of inculpable ignorance.
Lionel: This is Wikipedia's Cushingite spin.Inculpable ignorance refers to known cases for Wikipedia. So everyone who is not visibly within the Church is not necessarily damned.
For me a Feeneyite, inculpable ignorance refers to unknown cases and so the dogmatic teaching on extra ecclesiam nulla salus stands.So everyone who is not visibly within the Church is necessarily damned.Since 'faith and baptism' is the norm. Inculpable ignorance is not the norm.The Catholic Church is the ordinary means of salvation(Redemptoris Missio 55). Other religions are not the ordinary means of salvation.
Papal teaching before the Second Vatican Council[edit]
Statements by Popes upholding the dogma that outside of the Church there is no salvation have been given above. Popes who have made such statements have also said that there are those who without visibly belonging to the Church are related to it and can be saved. Pope Pius IX spoke of them as "able to attain eternal life", and Pope Pius XII said that "they have a certain relationship with the Mystical Body of the Redeemer".
Lionel: The pope does not state that those who do not visibly belong to the Church are personally known. However Wikipedia assumes that these are personally known cases.It is a false inference.
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In his 1863 encyclical letter to the bishops of Italy, Pope Pius IX wrote: "Well known is the Catholic teaching that no one can be saved outside the Catholic Church. Eternal salvation cannot be obtained by those who oppose the authority and statements of the same Church and are stubbornly separated from the unity of the Church and also from the successor of Peter, the Roman Pontiff". In the same letter, he said: "There are, of course, those who are struggling with invincible ignorance about our most holy religion. Sincerely observing the natural law and its precepts inscribed by God on all hearts and ready to obey God, they live honest lives and are able to attain eternal life by the efficacious virtue of divine light and grace since God who clearly beholds, searches, and knows the minds, souls, thoughts, and habits of all men, because of His great goodness and mercy, will by no means suffer anyone to be punished with eternal torment who has not the guilt of deliberate sin." He added: "God forbid that the children of the Catholic Church should even in any way be unfriendly to those who are not at all united to us by the same bonds of faith and love. On the contrary, let them be eager always to attend to their needs with all the kind services of Christian charity, whether they are poor or sick or suffering any other kind of visitation. First of all, let them rescue them from the darkness of the errors into which they have unhappily fallen and strive to guide them back to Catholic truth and to their most loving Mother who is ever holding out her maternal arms to receive them lovingly back into her fold. Thus, firmly founded in faith, hope, and charity and fruitful in every good work, they will gain eternal salvation."[15]
Lionel: Again the pope does not say that invincible ignorance refers to a known case. It has to be wrongly inferred as such. Wikipedia, the liberal theologians and Cardinal Razinger make the wrong inference.
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Pope Pius XII considered not unrelated to the Church "those who do not belong to the visible Body of the Catholic Church", saying that they are in a "state in which they cannot be sure of their salvation. For even though by an unconscious desire and longing they have a certain relationship with the Mystical Body of the Redeemer, they still remain deprived of those many heavenly gifts and helps which can only be enjoyed in the Catholic Church".[19]
It was under Pope Pius XII too that the Catholic Church rejected Feeneyism.
Lionel: He means invisible cases are visible and so Fr.Leonard Feeney was wrong.Are they visible?
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Second Vatican Council[edit]
The Second Vatican Council declared that the Christian communities that are not in full communion, but only in "partial communion"[20] with the Catholic Church, "though we believe them to be deficient in some respects, have been by no means deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation which derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Church".
Lionel: We do not know any one who is saved in partial communion with the Catholic Church. So this is not related to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus. For Wikipedia it is.So it must be a known case in the present times. This is irrational.
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It explained that "some and even very many of the significant elements and endowments which together go to build up and give life to the Church itself, can exist outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church: the written word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, and visible elements too. All of these, which come from Christ and lead back to Christ, belong by right to the one Church of Christ."[21] These elements, it said, "as gifts belonging to the Church of Christ, are forces impelling toward Catholic unity."[22]
Lionel: These 'elements' are theoretical. We cannot say that any one in particular has been saved outside the Church because of these 'elements'.
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And "it is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help towards salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained. It was to the apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, that we believe that our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant, in order to establish on earth the one body of Christ into which all those must be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the people of God."[21]
The Council also said that even those who do not believe in Christ are related to the Church: "All men are called to be part of this catholic unity of the people of God which in promoting universal peace presages it. And there belong to or are related to it in various ways, the Catholic faithful, all who believe in Christ, and indeed the whole of mankind, for all men are called by the grace of God to salvation."[23] However, it added immediately that those who, "knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved".[24] In this way, the Catholic Church teaches that any person who knows that the Catholic Church is necessary for eternal salvation and knowingly rejects the Church with deliberate consent cannot be saved.
Lionel: Again those who know and do not know and who are saved or not saved are known only to God. We cannot say that any one in particular will be saved in invincible ignorance. So all need to enter the Church as members and not only those who are not in invincible ignorance.Invincible ignorance is not the norm. The ordinary way for salvation is faith and baptism.
For Wikipedia and the liberals at Vatican Council II there are exceptions to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus so Lumen Gentium 14 refers to only those who know as having an obligation to enter the Church to avoid Hell.This is the foundational philosophical error in Vatican Council II.
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On the other hand, "those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience. Nor does Divine Providence deny the helps necessary for salvation to those who, without blame on their part, have not yet arrived at an explicit knowledge of God and with His grace strive to live a good life."[25]
Lionel: Again those who through no fault of their own... are unknown cases, they cannot be specifically identified in the present times. So this is irrelevant to no salvation outside the Church. For Wikpedia and the Cushingites it is relevant. For me as a Feeneyite this is a superflous passage in Vatican Council II. It is there becaue of bad philosophy.I do not make an inference based on an irrational premise. So there is no change in theology for me when I interpret Vatican Council II and the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra_Ecclesiam_nulla_salus
-Lionel Andrades
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