According to the official teaching of the Catholic Church all non-Catholics are oriented to Hell unless they convert into the Catholic Church. Those non Catholics who have the baptism of desire, a good conscience or are in genuine invincible ignorance and could be saved would be known to God only.
The ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus (outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation) teaches that everyone, with no exception, needs to defacto enter the Church to avoid Hell. This is also the teaching of Ad Gentes 7, Vatican Council II and #836 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.'All' need to be Catholics to go to Heaven and avoid Hell.
Here is the ex cathedra dogma.
1. “There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved.” (Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215).The Rosiminian priest who every Sunday at 8 a.m celebrates the Novus Ordo Mass in Italian confirmed that Vatican Council II Lumen Gentium 16 does not contradict the ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
2. “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, 302.).
3.“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/
Fr.George who is the chief celebrant at Holy Mass at the Church of San Ambrogio and Carlo Via del Corso, Rome was commenting on an apologetic book on display at the Church entrance.The book published by the Vatican Library and written by a Bishop of Frascati,Italy seemed ambigous about Lumen Gentium 16,Vatican Council II.
Fr.George said that Lumen Gentium 16 does not refer to defacto salvation. So it did not contradict the ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus. The dogma indicates that de facto everyone with no exception needs to be a visible member of the Catholic Church for salvation.He agreed that Lumen Gentium 16 referred to de jure salvation and was an acceptable concept.
It in no way contradicted the infallible teaching that the Church was necessary for the salvation of all people and all needed to be a visible member of the Catholic Church ,Jesus' Mystical Body.
Fr. Masimilliano de Gaspari F. I says there is no de facto baptism of desire. Baptism of desire always has to be de jure. Fr. Masimilliano de Gaspari F.I who gets his religious name from St. Maximillian Kolbe, who also has similar views on this subject.
Fr. Masimilliano, an Italian priest of the religious community Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, observed that there is no case of baptism of desire that one can judge, nor can one say that any one in particular has genuine invincible ignorance.”It is always a probability”, he observed. It is a probability, a possibility.
It may be mentioned that we cannot say that there are de facto 10 cases of baptism of desire in Rome. Neither can we say de jure that there are 10 cases of baptism of desire in Rome. Since we can only talk in terms of a concept.
Implicit faith (baptism of desire, invincible ignorance) is always only a concept. We accept it in principle (de jure).
De facto the Church tells us (in the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus,Vatican Council II, Ad Gentes 7, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church 836 ) that everyone without exception needs to enter the Catholic Church to avoid Hell. Since with Original Sin human beings have lost the supernatural state which Adam and Eve enjoyed in Paradise who could have lived on without dieing if they were not disobedient. This state of grace is restored through the baptism of water and Catholic Faith.It has been created and won for us by Jesus Christ through His Death and Resurrection.
Those who know about this truth and yet do not enter the Catholic Church are definitely on the way to Hell at the time of death.Other non Catholics are also on the way to Hell however there is a possibility that some of them could have implicit faith and so God will arrange for them to be baptized or send someone to teach them what they should do before they die. In many cases people have returned from death to be baptized by saints and then they return to the next life. This is the mercy of God.
Father Masimilliano de Gaspari F.I said everyone with no exception needs to de facto enter the Catholic Church for salvation. I was speaking with him (April 25, 2010) the morning before he celebrated Holy Mass in Latin at the Church of the Annunziata, Lungotevere, Rome.He was not present today.
"Would you agree that everyone with no exception de facto needs to enter the Catholic Church for salvation while there is a possibility in principle, de jure, that in certain circumstances those with implicit faith (baptism of desire, invincible ignorance etc) can be saved and it would be known only to God?"
"Yes. I agree ", he said in Italian. He also speaks English.
The ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus says everyone with no exception needs to be a visible member of the Catholic Church to be saved (from Hell).
The three popes and Councils which gave Catholics this infallible teaching were aware of invincible ignorance and the baptism of desire (implicit faith).It was NOT mentioned for the FIRST TIME in Vatican Council II.Fr. Masimiliano dei Gaspari agreed.
The popes interpreted implicit faith NOT as de facto salvation. Fr. Masimilliano de Gaspari agreed.
We cannot judge de facto who has a genuine baptism of desire. He agreed.
So if we interpret implicit faith in Vatican Council II (LG 16) as referring to de facto salvation it would be a heresy. It would contradict the ex cathedra teaching outside the Church there is no salvation. It would also contradict Vatican Council II (Ad Gentes 7) and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (836) which state 'all' need to enter the Catholic Church for salvation.
There has been much confusion caused on this subject by theologians like Fr. Hans Kung who have interpreted Lumen Gentium 16 (invincible ignorance etc) as referring to de facto salvation. It would wrongly mean that Vatican Council II is opposed to the ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus which for centuries said everyone with no exception needs to be a visible member of the Catholic Church to avoid Hell. It would also mean that the three popes and Councils which gave us this infallible teaching were wrong and that the dogma was only pre-Vatican Council II-thus indicating that those popes were not infallible ex cathedra. It also wrongly suggested that there was no reference to implicit faith (baptism of desire etc) in the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 (years before Vatican Council II) to the Archbishop of Boston relative to Fr. Leonard Feeney. The Letter during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII referred to ‘the dogma’ and the ‘infallible' teaching.
The secular media has also been falsely claiming that Fr. Leonard Feeney was excommunicated for heresy instead of discipline. Communities founded by Fr. leonard Feeney state that the excommunication against Fr. Feeney was not mentioned in the Acta Apostolica Sedis and the entry in the Denzinger-Enchridion was made by Karl Rahner and Jacques Dupuis S.J, the latter who himself was checked by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with a Notification issued by Cardinal Ratzinger.The Denzinger entry was made from the Ecclesiastical Review!
Also the Letter of the Holy Office was based on information given by Cardinal Richard Cushing , the Archbishop of Boston who never affirmed the dogma in public.Neither did he issue a clarification when the secular newspapers in Boston and Massachusetts reported that the Catholic Church has changed its teaching on outside the Church no salvation.
Fr.Masimilliano de Gaspari is clarifying that Vatican Council II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church are not opposed to the dogma outside the Church there is no salvation and that ex cathedra the popes remain infallible.He is also saying that implciit faith was not mentioned for the first time in Vatican Council II as Fr.Hans Kung and the secular newspapers have been repeating over the years.
Everyone needs to be baptized within the Catholic Church for salvation is the message of the former Archbishop of Boston.His Eminence Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Majors, Rome prayed that the Jews, whom he mentioned specifically among all people, be baptized and so join the Chosen People (“popolo eletto”); the Elect, the Catholic Church.The cardinal was leading the Easter Vigil prayers on Saturday night at the Basilica of St. Mary Majors.
Cardinal Law specifically mentioned after two Old Testament Readings, the necessity of the Jews being baptized for salvation.
Later in his homily in Italian he emphasized the necessity of the Catholic Church for the salvation of all people; all people who enter the Catholic Church.
The cardinal’s message was that Catholics are the ‘chosen people’ of God. He said one cannot separate Jesus from the Catholic Church. Jesus in the Catholic Church is the only way to God the Father. Salvation is available for all baptized persons who enter the Catholic Church. To be saved all people need to worship Jesus in the Catholic Church. He cited various popes.
It may be mentioned that it is an ex cathedra teaching of three popes and Councils that all people with no exception need to join ‘the chosen people’, the Catholic Church for salvation.
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Photos of Yahya Pallavicini, Anna Foa and Riccardo Segni
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