Tuesday, February 18, 2014

BERLUSCONI AND HIS BISHOP

Silvio Berlusconi protested the reading of the Koran in Florence it was announced on local television about a month back and then the report was pulled down.Instead there were on line reports about him saying that the Western civilisation was superior to the Islamic one. He then met with representatives of Muslim countries to clarify his statement.
Berlusconi had  praised Pope Benedict's Regensburg address and said 'At last we have a great pope'.What he has not said is that the Koran originates from Mohammad, whom the Catholic Church considers as being lost in Hell. Vatican Council (Ad Gentes 7) and the Catechism of the Catholic Church tell us that all need 'faith and baptism' for salvation.This is  taught by Jesus (Mk.16:16, Jn.3:5). Mohammad had neither.
He knew about the Church, according to the Koran but did not enter. He formed a new religion.
According to Vatican Council II(Lumen Gentium 14) and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (846) Mohammad could not be saved.Since he knew and yet did not enter.Whether one knows or does not know is implicit for us and explicit only for God.It is hypothetical for us. It is not an exception to Ad Gentes 7 which says all need faith and baptism for salvation.
According to Vatican Council II (AG 7) the majority of people on earth, are oriented to Hell at the time of death, since they did not convert with 'faith and baptism'. Faith and baptism are the ordinary means of salvation (Redemptoris Missio 55), the only means.
It is the only means since we do not know any exception in 2014. Neither does the Church state in Vatican Council II that there are known exceptions to the ordinary means of salvation.
Being saved in invincible ignorance or the baptism of desire are not exceptions to the ordinary means of salvation. They are irrelevant to it. They are probabilities known only to God.
So Silvio Berlusconi could have clarified this for Catholics in Italy. Islam is not a path to salvation, since its members do not have Catholic Faith and the baptism of water.
Berlusconi had once said that as a young man he was taught by the Redemptorist  Fathers that outside the Church there is no salvation.The Redemptorist Fathers do not any more teach this any more. Since they assume like the Vatican Curia which guides them, that  invincible ignorance etc are exceptions to Ad Gentes 7 ( all need faith and baptism) or the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
Berlusconi, a divorcee, could have proclaimed the Catholic Faith for them- if he only knew it!
We could then have the Vatican saying that the teaching of the Catholic Church before and after Vatican Council II is the same on exclusive salvation.
Islamic tradition(hadees) also  teaches exclusive salvation being there in only the religion of Mohammad.The Koran is critical of the Catholic Church and Christian beliefs. Christians and Christianity are referred to many times in the Koran.
 In Rome, Muslims who believe a Catholic should be killed or punished for criticizing Mohammad or the Koran  are employed in secular and Catholic organisations. They support the Blasphemy Laws in Islamic countries under which Christians face the dead penalty.
 Muslims in Italy are supported by the leftist/Communist government in Italy created by the Communist president Giorgio Napolitano, who refers to the Catholic Church as 'our culture'.He approves the Jewish Left conditions for the existence of the Catholic Church in its present form.
So a discussion of the Catholic Faith between Berlusconi and his bishop, would be a political discussion.When the Chief Rabbinate of Israel threathened  the Vatican over the Good Friday Prayer for the Conversion of the Jews, the Vatican announced that Jews do not have to convert in the present times.This was a contradiction of the Bible, the Magisterium and Tradition, for political reasons.
 In a 'political discussion' Berlusconi could ask his bishop (who correctly refuses to give the ex-Prime Minister the Eucharist at Holy Mass) if there are any physically visible exceptions to the Redemptorist understanding of extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
If Berlusconi's bishop would reply saying there are those saved in their religion who are saved through Jesus and the Church (CCC 846),Berlusconi could respond,"We do not know any such case in 2014. You cannot name any such person". So they are not exceptions to Ad Gentes 7 ( all need faith and baptism).
His bishop could say Fr.Leonard Feeney of Boston was excommunicated for denying the baptism of desire and being saved in invincible ignorance, as being exceptions to extra ecclesiam nulla salus. Berlusconi must respond,"If this is true Pope Pius XII made an objective error. We cannot see the dead-saved in invincible ignorance etc for them to be an exception to the old Redemptorist understanding of extra ecclesiam nulla salus".
His bishop could say Vatican Council II mentions exceptions to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus. Berlusconi could reply,"Then Vatican Council II made an objective, factual error".How can the dead be exceptions?
His bishop could say there is a 'development of doctrine'. Berlusconi must ask," Where is the Church text in Vatican Council II which supports this development of doctrine? Where does Vatican Council II say there is known salvation outside the visible limits of the Catholic Church?" LG 16, LG 8,UR 3 etc refer to invisible for us cases.
There is no salvation outside the visible limits of the Catholic Church and the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 supported Fr.Leonard Feeney when it mentioned 'the dogma', the 'infalllible teaching'. The text of the dogma does not mention exceptions.
Who is going to educate Berlusconi?-Lionel Andrades
  • They have tried to hang me on an isolated word, taken out of context from my whole speech ... I did not say anything against the Islamic civilization... It's the work of some people in the Italian leftist press who wanted to tarnish my image and destroy my long-standing relations with Arabs and Muslims.

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