No where in Vatican Council II is it said that we know of specific cases of the baptism of desire or invincible ignorance. So its false to assume that Vatican Council II contradicts the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus, which Venerable Pope Pius XII, called ‘infallible’.
Since
1) There is no text in Vatican Council II which states that we know of specific cases if implicit salvation in the present times.The secular media and many Catholics claim we do know of such cases in the present times and so it contradicts the dogma.
2) The Church has not retracted extra ecclesiam nulla salus through any Magisterial document. So it still is a Magisterial teaching.
3) The Letter of the Holy Office 1949 to the Archbishop of Boston supported Fr. Leonard Feeney on doctrine.
It’s priests who offer the Novos Ordo Mass who will say 'everyone needs to enter the Church except for those in invincible ignorance or who have the baptism of desire’ Father! We don’t know of any such case. Neither do you know of any specific case of someone in invincible ignorance or the baptism of desire.
So then they conclude that ‘the Church teaches’ that a non Catholic could be saved. Since, he could be in that exceptional category. So everyone does not need to enter the Church as states the dogma and Vatican Council II (Ad Gentes 7). Then they go one step further and assume may be even no one needs to enter the Church.
Cardinal Walter Kaspar came to this conclusion about Vatican Council II and the Jews. He wrote in a front page article in the L'Osservatore Romano, which was approved by the Pope and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, that Jews do not have to convert in the present times. He offers the Novos Ordo Mass.
APOLOGETICS
1.POST VATICAN COUNCIL II MAGISTERIUM TEXTS SUPPORT THE DOGMA EXTRA ECCLESIAM NULLA SALUS
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”.-Dominus Iesus 20
So does Vatican Council II
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.-Ad Gentes 7,Vatican Council II
Here is the 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). Ex cathedra.
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, 1302.).Ex cathedra.
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.) Ex cathedra – from the website Catholicism.org
2. LUMEN GENTIUM 16 OBJECTION
If there is an objection with reference to Lumen Gentium 16 it is a straw man. LG 16 does not say that we know any case of invincible ignorance in the present times.
Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience.-Lumen Gentium 16, Vatican Council II.
So Lumen Gentium 16 does not contradict extra ecclesiam nulla salus or Ad Gentes 7, Vatican Council II.
Apply the Three Common Sense Points.
1. There is no way that we can know of a particular person saved in invincible ignorance or the baptism of desire because of its very nature. It is known only to God.
2. There is no text in Vatican Council II or the Catechism which claims we know of any such case. (Lumen Gentium 16 mentions the possibility of such people being saved, which we accept conceptually. De facto we do not know if there is even one single case in the present times, or the last 100 years)
3. So Vatican Council II and the Catechism do not contradict the ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.-The Three Common Sense Points
3.FR. LEONARD FEENEY SUPPORTED BY HOLY OFFICE (1949)
If there is an objection that Fr. Leonard Feeney was excommunicated for affirming extra ecclesiam nulla salus, this is a falsehood. The 'dogma' referred to in the Letter of the Holy Office to the Archbishop of Boston 1949 indicates that all Jews in Boston need to convert into the Church to avoid Hell.
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 1949 to the Archbishop of Boston (Emphasis added).
Here is the dogma again.
“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.)
So the Letter of the Holy Office supported Fr.Leonard Feeney on doctrine.The dogma(above) indicates all Jews in Boston need to convert into the Church to avoid Hell. This was exactly what Fr.Leonard Feeney taught.
So how can Novos Ordo priests claim Vatican Council II contradicts the ex cathedra dogma when they cannot provide any specific text?
There is no Magisterial text to support the ecclesiology being used by Novos Ordo priests. Instead the Magisterium texts support the rigorist interpretation of extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
So how can Novos Ordo priests claim Vatican Council II contradicts the ex cathedra dogma when they cannot provide any specific text?
There is no Magisterial text to support the ecclesiology being used by Novos Ordo priests. Instead the Magisterium texts support the rigorist interpretation of extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
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