Therefore, all must be converted to Him, made known by the Church's preaching, and
all must be incorporated into Him by baptism and into the Church which
is His body. For Christ Himself "by stressing in express language the
necessity of faith and baptism (cf. Mark 16:16; John 3:5), at the same
time confirmed the necessity of the Church, into which men enter by
baptism, as by a door. Therefore
those men cannot be saved, who though aware that God, through Jesus
Christ founded the Church as something necessary, still do not wish to
enter into it, or to persevere in it." Therefore though God in ways
known to Himself can lead those inculpably ignorant of the Gospel to
find that faith without which it is impossible to please Him...- Ad Gentes 7. Vatican Council II
_________________________________________
Lumen Gentium 14, Vatican Council II
14.
This Sacred Council wishes to turn its attention firstly to the
Catholic faithful. Basing itself upon Sacred Scripture and Tradition, it
teaches that the Church, now sojourning on earth as an exile, is
necessary for salvation. Christ, present to us in His Body, which is the
Church, is the one Mediator and the unique way of salvation. In
explicit terms He Himself affirmed the necessity of faith and
baptism(124) and thereby affirmed also the necessity of the Church, for
through baptism as through a door men enter the Church. Whosoever,
therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by
Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved.
They
are fully incorporated in the society of the Church who, possessing the
Spirit of Christ accept her entire system and all the means of
salvation given to her, and are united with her as part of her visible
bodily structure and through her with Christ, who rules her through the
Supreme Pontiff and the bishops. The bonds which bind men to the Church
in a visible way are profession of faith, the sacraments, and
ecclesiastical government and communion. He
is not saved, however, who, though part of the body of the Church, does
not persevere in charity. He remains indeed in the bosom of the Church,
but, as it were, only in a "bodily" manner and not "in his heart."(12*)
All the Church's children should remember that their exalted status is
to be attributed not to their own merits but to the special grace of
Christ. If they fail moreover to respond to that grace in thought, word
and deed, not only shall they not be saved but they will be the more
severely judged.(13*)
Catechumens
who, moved by the Holy Spirit, seek with explicit intention to be
incorporated into the Church are by that very intention joined with her.
With love and solicitude Mother Church already embraces them as her
own.- Lumen Gentium 14, Vatican Council II
________________________________________
Unitatis Redintigratio (Decree on Ecumenism), Vatican Council II
It
follows that the separated Churches(23) and Communities as such, 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.
Nevertheless,
our separated brethren, whether considered as individuals or as
Communities and Churches, are not blessed with that unity which Jesus
Christ wished to bestow on all those who through Him were born again
into one body, and with Him quickened to newness of life - that unity
which the Holy Scriptures and the ancient Tradition of the Church
proclaim. For it is only through Christ's Catholic Church, which is "the
all-embracing means of salvation," that they can benefit fully from the
means of salvation. We believe that Our Lord entrusted all the
blessings of the New Covenant to the apostolic college alone, of which
Peter is the head, in order to establish the one Body of Christ on earth
to which all should be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the
people of God. This people of God, though still in its members liable to
sin, is ever growing in Christ during its pilgrimage on earth, and is
guided by God's gentle wisdom, according to His hidden designs, until it
shall happily arrive at the fullness of eternal glory in the heavenly
Jerusalem.-Unitatis Redintigratio (Decree on Ecumenism), Vatican Council II
________________________________________
Dignitatis Humane 1, Vatican Council II
First,
the council professes its belief that God Himself has made known to
mankind the way in which men are to serve Him, and thus be saved in
Christ and come to blessedness. We believe that this one true religion
subsists in the Catholic and Apostolic Church, to which the Lord Jesus
committed the duty of spreading it abroad among all men. Thus He spoke
to the Apostles: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have enjoined
upon you" (Matt. 28: 19-20). On their part, all men are bound to seek
the truth, especially in what concerns God and His Church, and to
embrace the truth they come to know, and to hold fast to it.
This
Vatican Council likewise professes its belief that it is upon the human
conscience that these obligations fall and exert their binding force.
The truth cannot impose itself except by virtue of its own truth, as it
makes its entrance into the mind at once quietly and with power.
Religious
freedom, in turn, which men demand as necessary to fulfill their duty
to worship God, has to do with immunity from coercion in civil society. Therefore
it leaves untouched traditional Catholic doctrine on the moral duty of
men and societies toward the true religion and toward the one Church of
Christ.-Dignitatis Humane 1, Vatican Council II
______________________________
Catechism of the Catholic Church
"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:
- 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.
847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:
- 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.
848 "Although in
ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their
own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is
impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men."
-Catechism of the Catholic Church 846-848
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DOMINUS IESUS
IV. UNICITY AND UNITY OF THE CHURCH
16. The Lord Jesus, the only Saviour, did not only establish a simple community of disciples, but constituted the Church as a salvific mystery: he himself is in the Church and the Church is in him (cf. Jn 15:1ff.; Gal 3:28; Eph 4:15-16; Acts9:5). Therefore,
the fullness of Christ's salvific mystery belongs also to the Church,
inseparably united to her Lord. Indeed, Jesus Christ continues his
presence and his work of salvation in the Church and by means of the
Church (cf.Col 1:24-27),47 which is his body (cf. 1 Cor 12:12-13, 27; Col 1:18).48 And
thus, just as the head and members of a living body, though not
identical, are inseparable, so too Christ and the Church can neither be
confused nor separated, and constitute a single “whole Christ”.49 This same inseparability is also expressed in the New Testament by the analogy of the Church as the Bride of Christ (cf. 2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:25-29; Rev 21:2,9).50
Therefore,
in connection with the unicity and universality of the salvific
mediation of Jesus Christ, the unicity of the Church founded by him must
befirmly believed as a truth of Catholic faith. Just as there is
one Christ, so there exists a single body of Christ, a single Bride of
Christ: “a single Catholic and apostolic Church”.51 Furthermore, the promises of the Lord that he would not abandon his Church (cf. Mt 16:18; 28:20) and that he would guide her by his Spirit (cf. Jn 16:13)
mean, according to Catholic faith, that the unicity and the unity of
the Church — like everything that belongs to the Church's integrity —
will never be lacking.52
The Catholic faithful are required to profess that there is an historical continuity — rooted in the apostolic succession53 —
between the Church founded by Christ and the Catholic Church: “This is
the single Church of Christ... which our Saviour, after his
resurrection, entrusted to Peter's pastoral care (cf. Jn 21:17), commissioning him and the other Apostles to extend and rule her (cf. Mt28:18ff.), erected for all ages as ‘the pillar and mainstay of the truth' (1 Tim 3:15). This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in [subsistit in] the Catholic Church, governed by the Successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him”.54 With the expression subsistit in, the Second Vatican Council sought to harmonize two doctrinal statements: on
the one hand, that the Church of Christ, despite the divisions which
exist among Christians, continues to exist fully only in the Catholic
Church, and on the other hand, that “outside of her structure, many elements can be found of sanctification and truth”,55 that is, in those Churches and ecclesial communities which are not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church.56 But
with respect to these, it needs to be stated that “they derive their
efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the
Catholic Church”
-Dominus Iesus 16.
________________________________
LETTER OF THE HOLY OFFICE 1949 DURING THE PONTIFICATE OF POPE PIUS XII
(
This letter was an inter office correspondence between cardinals.
However the liberals placed it in the Denzinger and it has been
referenced in Vatican Council II and the Catechism of the Catholic
Church. It contains an objective error when it assumes invisible and
unknown cases of the baptism of desire, baptism of blood and being saved
in invincible ignorance are visible and known exceptions to the
traditional interpretation of the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.Upon
this Letter is based the New Theology.)
We are bound by divine and Catholic faith to believe all those things which are contained in the word of God, whether it be Scripture or Tradition, and are proposed by the Church to bebelieved as divinely revealed, not only through solemn judgment but also through the ordinary and universal teaching office (, n. 1792).
Now, among those things which the Church has always preached and will never cease to preach is contained also that infallible statement by which we are taught that there is no salvation outside the Church.
However, this dogma must be understood in that sense in which the Church herself understands it. For, it was not to private judgments that Our Savior gave for explanation those things that are contained in the deposit of faith, but to the teaching authority of the Church...
Now, among the commandments of Christ, that one holds not the least place by which we are commanded to be incorporated by baptism into the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church, and to remain united to Christ and to His Vicar, through whom He Himself in a visible manner governs the Church on earth...
Therefore, no one will be saved who, knowing the Church to have been divinely established by Christ, nevertheless refuses to submit to the Church or withholds obedience from the Roman Pontiff, the Vicar of Christ on earth.
Not only did the Savior command that all nations should enter the Church, but He also decreed the Church to be a means of salvation without which no one can enter the kingdom of eternal glory.
In His infinite mercy God has willed that the effects, necessary for one to be saved, of those helps to salvation which are directed toward man's final end, not by intrinsic
necessity, but only by divine institution, can also be obtained in certain circumstances when those helps are used only in desire and longing. This we see clearly stated in the Sacred Council of Trent, both in reference to the sacrament of regeneration and in reference to the sacrament of penance (, nn. 797, 807).
Therefore, that one may obtain eternal salvation, it is not always required that he be incorporated into the Church actually as a member, but it is necessary that at least he be united to her by desire and longing.
However, this desire need not always be explicit, as it is in catechumens; but when a person is involved in invincible ignorance God accepts also an implicit desire, so called because it is included in that good disposition of soul whereby a person wishes his will to be conformed to the will of God.
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