Friday, November 16, 2018

Vatican Council II says there are specific people in Hell. The Catholic Church still teaches this

Yesterday evening I was talking to a young Catholic who studies  theology at a pontifical university in Rome.
I had to tell him that the Catholic Church today teaches that all non Catholics are oriented to Hell. I cited Ad Gentes 7 which says all need faith and baptism for salvation.The word 'all' is used in this text of Vatican Council II.
Before the bus arrived I was about to tell him that the Catholic Church today tells us that there are specific people in Hell and that most people go to Hell. It tells us this in Ad Gentes 7 and Lumen Gentium 14.
So when I meet a non Catholic I know he is oriented to Hell. Since he will die without 'faith and baptism'(AG 7, LG 14).
Jesus died for him and in potential, salvation is open for him.He is not condemned as long as he or she is alive on earth.
God leaves it free for him to choose his salvation by being a member of the Catholic Church with faith and baptism ( Vatican Council II, AG 7, LG 14).
Vatican Council II affirms exlusive salvation in the Catholic Church (AG 7) with hypothetical and speculative cases of LG 8, LG 14, LG 16, UR 3, NA 2, GS 22 etc not being objective exceptions.
So Vatican Council II says extra ecclesiam nulla salus, outside the Church there is no salvation just as did the saints of the past like Francis of Assisi, Bonaventure, Thoma Aquinas...
St. Thomas Aquinas held the strict interpretation of the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus(EENS).
So when the Catechism of the Catholic Church in N.846 says all who are saved are saved through Jesus and the Church it is not an exception to the strict interpretation of Ad Gentes 7 , which says all need faith and baptism for salvation (CCC 846,Ad Gentes 7). When the Catechism of Pope Paul X refers to invincible ignorance it does not contradict the same Catechism which says all need to be members of the Catholic Church for salvation.
So the Catholic Church in the Catechism(1994) and  Vatican Council II still teaches that most people go to Hell, there are specific people, these are those people who are not Catholic, since outside the Church there is no salvation.
-Lionel Andrades

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