When speaking about the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus the Vice President of Ecclesia Dei said that he knew saintly Protestants, implying that they will be saved, he knows they will be saved, even though they are not in the Catholic Church.
According to Protestant theology just believing in Jesus is enough for salvation.According to Catholics belief in Jesus is necessary but so also are the moral teachings of the Gospel, they need to be lived, since a mortal sin un-Confessed in the Sacrament of Reconciliation can lead to Hell- even if one believes in Jesus or is a Catholic. For Catholics it is necessary to be a member of the Catholic Church and to live the Gospel within the Catholic Church.
Only Jesus can judge if Di Noia’s ‘saintly Lutherans and Anglicans' are exceptions. The Catholic Church however teaches in its documents, and not through the Vatican Curia, that Protestants are on the way to Hell because they do not have access to the Sacraments in the Catholic Church. They do not have Catholic Faith (AG 7). Di Noia cannot claim that any Protestant he knows is saved or will be saved. He cannot say that for himself.
He said ‘the Council did say there are elements of grace in other religions, and I don’t think that should be retracted.’ It should not be retracted since it is not in conflict with the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus. Neither does it contradict AG 7.
LG 8 mentions ‘elements of sanctification in other religions’ but LG 8 does not say that these cases are known to us, or are the ordinary means of salvation or that they contradict the literal interpretation of the dogma or that they contradict AG 7 which says all need Catholic faith and the baptism of water for salvation.
The Archbishop is assuming that a non Catholic can be saved with ‘elements of sanctification’ and that he personally knows these cases.Here is the error.
Di Noia can mention of course those saved with God’s grace. However no document of Vatican Council II says that they are exceptions to the dogma. He has to imply it personally and please his friends.
His error is at the basis of the Society of St. Pius X’s rejection of Vatican Council II. Since for them Vatican Council II (LG 8, LG 16) are exceptions to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus. They are ‘known’ exceptions. So they reject Vatican Council II, which for them, has changed the traditional teaching on other religions and ecumenism.
Augustine Di Noia, Luiz Ladaria, Kurt Koch, Bernard Fellay, Richard Williamson….all assume there are known exceptions.
For the Vatican Curia there are known exceptions and so they accept one version of Vatican Council II. For the SSPX there are known exceptions and so they reject Vatican Council II.
So Augustine di Noia says the SSPX are in schism. He is not in schism because he assumes there are defacto, explicit exceptions to the dogma. He does not realize that his concept of Vatican Council II is a hermeneutic of rupture. If he accepted that there are no known exceptions, he would interpret Vatican Council II as a hermeneutic of continuity. This would mean Vatican Council II would be saying Judaism and Protestantism are not paths to salvation. LG 16 and LG 8 would not be exceptions to the dogma.
This would not be acceptable to the Jewish Left who want us to believe that the SSPX are in schism and do not accept their approved version of Vatican Council II.
If he says there are no known exceptions, his concept of Vatican Council II will change. He would have to choose the Anti Semitic version of Vatican Council II and then the Jewish Left will protest.
Di Noia can mention of course those saved with God’s grace. However no document of Vatican Council II says that they are exceptions to the dogma. He has to imply it personally and please his friends.
In the interview with the National Catholic Register he refers to Ralph Martin of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Martin and the Catholic Charismatics proclaim Jesus without the Catholic Church. They can evangelize with the Protestants and do not believe in the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus neither do they accept Vatican Council II (AG 7).
The SSPX bishops and priests do not know what is happening. Since they too believe that there are Protestants who can be saved in invincible ignorance and the baptism of desire etc and these cases can be explicit exceptions to the traditional interpretation of the dogma.
If they knew what was happening they could choose the anti Semitic version of Vatican Council II.It would be in harmony with their values on Judaism and other religions.
-Lionel Andrades
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