Scott Hahn says yes. Another apologist says no. Another says I don’t know. EWTN suggests Pope Pius XII was fallible. Wikipedia is in continuous somersaults. No one wants to say Pope Pius XII said all Jews, Orthodox Christians, Muslims and others need to convert to avoid Hell. On Jan.4, 2010 the Rector of the Jesuit International College (Seminary) in Rome said no one is in Hell. He would also not affirm the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus which is at the centre of a major confusion in the Catholic Church. Since it is an ex cathedra teaching its meaning cannot be changed or altered-ever.
It if it is rejected it means there is nothing sacred in the Catholic Church-everything is relative.
The confusion was there even during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II and he came down firm in 2000-2001.
Here is a sample of the media confusion.
1. There is no Catholic Church text which says that Fr. Leonard Feeney of Boston was excommunicated for heresy. Yet Wikipedia the encyclopaedia on the internet insists it was heresy.
2. Wikipedia also states that Fr. Leonard Feeney held the strict interpretation the ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus. If so, then how could he be excommunicated for heresy?
Fr. Leonard Feeney said de facto every body needed to enter the Catholic Church for salvation and there were no exceptions. Every single human being on earth. This is what the ex cathedra dogma taught. He would be supported by Vatican Council II(Ad Gentes7) and the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII, who called ‘the dogma’ the ‘infallible teaching’(Letter 1949).Pope John Paul II would repeat the same teaching in Dominus Iesus n.20 and the CDF, Notification on Fr. Jacques Dupuis S.J .
So if this is and has been the consistent teaching of the Catholic Church why all the confusion?
Here is the ex cathedra dogma referred to by Pope Pius XII.
• “There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved.” (Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215.)
• “We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” (Pope Boniface VIII, the Bull Unam Sanctam, 1302.)
• “The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church.” (Pope Eugene IV, the Bull Cantate Domino, 1441.) - from the website Catholicism.org and “No Salvation outside the Church”: Link List, the Three Dogmatic Statements Regarding EENS)
http://nosalvationoutsideofthecatholicchurch.blogspot.com/
So Pope Pius XII was saying that all Jews and schismatics (Orthodox Christians ) needed to enter the Catholic Church to avoid Hell and this was an ‘infallible teaching’ of the Catholic Church.
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 be believed 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.-Letter of the Holy Office, Aug. 8, 1949. (Emphasis added)
Vatican Council II would cut corners and repeated the message of the dogma, the infallible teaching and say that every educated Jew, Muslim and Orthodox Christian was on the way to Hell. (Lumen Gentium 14, Ad Gentes 7)
Ad Gentes 7: ‘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."…
They were informed but they did not convert. This includes millions of people in modern cities. This would include those participating in inter religious dialogue and ecumenism and who have not converted into the Catholic Church. Pope Pius’ XII dogma made no distintinction.
The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI last month took Pope Pius XII closer to sainthood.
Pope Pius XII is clearly supported by Pope John Paul II.
Here is Pope John Paul II with the same message as the dogma.
20. From what has been stated above, some points follow that are necessary for theological reflection as it explores the relationship of the Church and the other religions to salvation.
Above all else, it must be firmly believed 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 (cf. Mk 16:16; Jn 3:5), and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through baptism as through a door”.77 This doctrine must not be set against the universal salvific will of God (cf. 1 Tim 2:4); “it is necessary to keep these two truths together, namely, the real possibility of salvation in Christ for all mankind and the necessity of the Church for this salvation”.78 –Dominus Iesus 20 (Emphasis added)
IV. On the orientation of all human beings to the Church
6. It must be firmly believed that the Church is sign and instrument of salvation for all people. It is contrary to the Catholic faith to consider the different religions of the world as ways of salvation complementary to the Church.
7. According to Catholic doctrine, the followers of other religions are oriented to the Church and are all called to become part of her. –Notification on Fr. Jacques Dupuis, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican. (Emphasis added)
55. Dialogue should be conducted and implemented with the conviction that the Church is the ordinary means of salvation and that she alone possesses the fullness of the means of salvation. - Redemptoris Missio (Emphasis added)
Pope John Paul II’s beatification date has been fixed for October this year, without Pope Pius XII, who is being opposed by the Jewish Left and Israel.They have turned on the Nostra Aetate-Vatican Council II hype, insisting on interpreting the Council for us Catholics, otherwise they would consider it anti-Semitic.
Today in Catholic parishes it is said there is salvation in only Jesus. This should be pleasing to the Jewish Left. This vague reference means Jews, Muslims etc are saved implicitly by Jesus and so they do not have to convert. There is no mention of the necessity of the Church (Dominus Iesus 20).
Yet Vatican Council II (AG 7, LG 14) and Dominus Iesus 20 say the Church is necessary for salvation. The reference was to the Baptism of water and Catholic Faith. There is no salvation outside explicit and exclusive entry into the Catholic Church.
Archbishop Angelo Amato,Prefect of the Congergation for the Cause of Saints has called for Mission based on Lumen Gentium 14 and Ad Gentes 7. The Archbishop has put ahead the cause of Pope Pius XII who was saying in the Letter that defacto every Jew in Boston needed to convert to avoid Hell.
Jesus said in the Bible that the road to Hell is wide and most people take it. Catholic saints have said the same. Most of the people in Hell, Sr. Faustina Maria Kowalski noticed were those who were surprised to be there.
Pope Pius XII would also teach us how to interpret Vatican Council II.
He said that in principle (de jure) it was possible that some non-Catholics could be saved without the Sacraments, in ‘certain circumstances’ (Letter 1949)
De jure there can be exceptions to the ordinary means of salvation; to the Sacraments. The exceptions can be judged by God only.
De facto (in personal meetings with Jews, Muslims etc) there are no exceptions. We cannot judge who has a genuine baptism of desire. Only Jesus can judge.
So it is anew doctrine which says everyone needs to de facto enter the Catholic Church for salvation, except those in invincible ignorance or with a good conscience.
De facto everyone with no exception needs to enter the Catholic Church.
If there are exceptions it is known to God and is in a sense irrelevant when I meet a Jew in Boston.
Here is Vatican Council II with the same message.
Ad Gentes 7. … 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…’
So Vatican Council II (LG 14, AG 7) supports Fr. Leonard Feeney. While LG 16, 20 refer to salvation in ‘certain circumstances’. Vice versa it’s a new doctrine.
Italian priests Fr. Massimilliano dei Gaspari F.I and Fr. Tullio Rotondo confirm that AG 7 refers to the ordinary means of salvation and LG 16 the extraordinary means of salvation (see blog eucharistandmission for details)
So is the confusion ‘cultivated’ or just simple ignorance.
Wikipedia says Fr. Leonard Feeney was excommunicated for saying there was no baptism of desire.
De facto there can be no baptism of desire known to us.
De jure (in theory) it is possible.
If de facto we could judge that a specific person has the baptism of desire it would contradict the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
Imagine St. Francis Xavier before the natives in Goa, the former Portuguese colony, saying to them,” Many of you must convert to go to Heaven but not all of you. Those of you who are in invincible ignorance or with a good conscience stay where you are as you are!”
Unthinkable! Yet this is what good Catholics are saying including apologists. They are saying that the baptism of water is a de facto exception to the need for everyone to enter the Catholic Church.
There are apologists who still affirm the truth, inspite of the errors on Wikipedia.
Scott Hahn Founder, President and Chairman of the Board of The St. Paul Centre for Biblical Theology, is one of the world’s most successful Catholic authors and teachers. He sent me an e mail answering the following three questions with a YES.
1) Does the Catholic Church teach that non Catholic religions, Hindus, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam etc are not paths to salvation (to go to Heaven and avoid Hell)? Yes.
2) Does the Catholic Church teach that Catholic Faith and the Baptism of water are needed for all people in general, barring the exceptions (invincible ignorance ), for salvation? Yes.
3) When you meet a Jew in Boston can you tell him or her that he or she needs Catholic Faith and the Baptism of water to go to Heaven and avoid Hell? Yes.
Questions one and two refer to de jure salvation and question three to defacto salvation. Scott Hahn was saying that when we meet a Jew in Boston we can think that this person is being saved with a good conscience or the baptism of desire. In De facto salvation, as compared to salvation in principle (de jure), there is no baptism of desire.
Judaism and Islam are not paths to salvation said Fr.Felix Muchado (26.02.2008).He was the Secretary at the Pontificial Council for Inter Religious Dialogue(PCID),Vatican,under Cardinal Tauran.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says everyone needs the baptism of water for salvation and the Church knows of no way to ‘eternal beatitude’ (CCC 1257) .Yet the Catechism also says God is not limited to the baptism of water (CCC 1257).De jure a non Catholic can be saved without the Sacraments.
John 3:5 refers to the ordinary way of salvation for all in general. The ‘good thief’ on the cross the exception.
If we accept Wikipedia, Reuters, New York Times and Newsweek’s interpretation of Vatican Council II (i.e. the exceptions, LG 16, 20 are the ordinary way to salvation) then it would mean Pope Pius XII or past popes were fallible. This is contrary to the dogma. EWTN’s website article by Fr. Most indicates just this! It would mean that dogmas can change. This is in opposition to another dogma. This is chaos.
So, is every non-Catholic going to Hell?
Yes, says the dogma.
The saints and the Church Fathers said it was due to Original Sin and mortal sin committed in that state. Even a Catholic is oriented to Hell if he dies with one un-confessed mortal sin.
It was Pope John Paul II who excommunicated a Catholic priest in mortal sin, for denying the ex cathedra dogma of the Immaculate Conception (Balasuriya). He was asked to recant which he did immediately. Fr. Feeney was not required to recant since he did not deny the dogma. The decree of Pope Pius XII said he was excommunicated for ‘disobedience’.
So if Pope Pius XII affirmed the dogma as late as 1949 and later, which said Jews, Orthodox Christians and Muslims are oriented to Hell-when did the ‘dogma change’?
The ‘change’ happened when the Holy Office(CDF),Vatican was informed by the Archbishop of Boston and the Jesuits ,in the 1940’s ,that Fr. Leonard Feeney did not de jure(in principle) teach there could be exceptions(baptism of desire etc) to the need of Catholic Faith and the Baptism of Water for salvation for all people. At the same time the secular newspapers (Jewish Left) in Boston were allowed to report that Fr. Leonard Feeney believed de facto there were no exceptions to salvation and so he was excommunicated. The confusion began. There was still no public affirmation of the dogma by the Archbishop-Cardinal Richard Cushing and the Jesuits of Boston.
The Letter of the Holy Office 1949 which affirmed the dogma as the ‘infallible teaching’ was not made public until three years later. The confusion spread world wide.
The Archbishop never apologised to Fr. Leonard Feeney and St. Benedict Centre for placing them under interdict. The excommunication was not lifted even after the Letter (1949) was made public .Fr. Feeney was permanently expelled from his community by the Jesuits. There was no recognition given to the community of Catholic religious which he founded, Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
So this was when the ‘dogma changed’.
Many years later two of the communities Fr. Leonard Feeney founded would be granted canonical status by the Catholic diocese of Worcester, USA. Both of them defend their founders name and Fr. Feeney founded would be granted canonical status in the diocese of Worcester, USA. Both of them defend the good name and teachings of Fr. Leonard Feeney. They affirm what the media still calls ‘the strict interpretation’ of the dogma, as if; there could be two interpretations of a dogma.
The Sisters of St. Benedict Centre and the St. Benedict’s Abbey in Worcester are supported by the ex cathedra dogma, Pope Pius XII’s Letter, Vatican Council II, Evangelii Nuntiandi, Redemptoris Missio 55, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1257,845 etc, Ecclesia di Eucarestia, Dominus Iesus 20, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Notification on Fr. Jacques Dupuis S.J …
Our dogmas are based on the Bible and Sacred Tradition. They are Jesus’ teachings conceptualised with precision, by the Magisterium guided by the Holy Spirit. This is the same Magisterium that has given us the canon (order of the books) of the Bible, the bible as we have it now. To reject an ex cathedra dogma is a mortal sin for a Catholic. Jesus gave the sole moral authority to the Catholic Church and not media or politicians. The secular media teaches that everyone will go to Heaven, there is no Hell or sin. This is the message many people in sin want to hear. Including Catholics.
So when asked if every non Catholic needs to enter the Catholic Church for salvation do not say," Yes , except for... ".
The Catholic Church says : Yes everyone without exceptions.
Posts
