Questions on Twitter : 2. St. Alphonsus taught that infidels could be saved ?

 

Questions on Twitter

2. St. Alphonsus taught that infidels could be saved ?

 St. Alphonsus Liguori held the strict interpretation of the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus (EENS) and he knew that being saved in invincible ignorance etc, referred to only hypothetical and theoretical cases. They were not practical exceptions for EENS.We could not know any such case in our reality. If any one was saved as such it could only be known to God.

So practically there were no exceptions for the dogma EENS for him. There were not exceptions for him,  unless you assume that non Catholics being saved in invincible ignorance are explicit and known cases. Then they become objective exceptions for the teaching on their being exclusive salvation in the Catholic Church.The dogma EENS is made obsolete.

Exclusive salvation in the Catholic Church is also the teaching of the Church today when Vatican Council II says all need faith and baptism for salvation ( AG 7) and LG 8,14,16, UR 3, GS 22 etc refer to hypothetical cases only. So they are not objective exceptions for EENS or AG 7.-Lionel Andrades