Letter from Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to Brother Andre Marie, Saint Benedict Center
As the Congregation stated in our April 15 letter to you, which the Congregation also
shared with Bishop Libasci, the principle "Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus" must be interpreted
according to the official doctrine of the Church, as it is summarized with clarity in the
Catechism of the Catholic Church (#846-#848) and, more in detail, in the Declaration
Dominus Jesus (#20-#22). The Catechism of the Catholic Church emphasizes that all
salvation comes from Christ through the Church, which is the Body of Christ, the Sacrament
of Salvation (cf. CCC #846). The paragraph that follows, however, is equally binding, as it
considers those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church and
states that those too have the possibility of obtaining eternal salvation (cf. CCC #847). This
being stated, the Church certainly has a perennial obligation and sacred right to evangelize all
men (cf. CCC #848).
https://www.catholicnh.org/assets/Documents/About/FAQ/Ltr-CDF-SBC.pdf
The red is not an exception to the blue, the red does not contradict the blue : Catechism of the Catholic Church 846-848
"Outside the Church there is no salvation"
846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:
-Catechism of the Catholic Church 846-848
846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:
- Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.
- Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.
-Catechism of the Catholic Church 846-848
The passages in red refer to hypothetical cases, theoretical possibilities and not personally known non Catholics saved outside the Church in the present times(2019).
The passage in blue agrees with the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus(EENS) which says all need to be members of the Catholic Church, for salvation, all need faith and baptism to avoid the fires of Hell.
The passage in blue is the norm for salvation in the Catholic Church, it is the rule on how to go to Heaven, for all people, as taught to the Church over the centuries, by the Holy Spirit.
For there to be an exception there would have to be a person saved outside the Church who is known and physically visible. An invisible person who does not exist in our reality cannot be an objective excepton to all needing to be members of the Catholic Church for salvation.
So the passages in red are hypothetical only,always. They can only be hypothetical.-Lionel Andrades
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