Pope John Paul II also fell before the objective error in the Letter of the Holy Office 1949?

1. All Salvation Comes through Christ -Pope John Paul II

General Audience  May 31, 1995

The difficulties that sometimes accompany the development of evangelization highlight a delicate problem, whose solution is not to be sought in purely historical or sociological terms. It is the problem of the salvation of those who do not visibly belong to the Church.

Lionel:

They are on the way to Hell according to the dogma defined three times and according to Vatican Council II (Ad Gentes 7).

 We have not been given the possibility to discern the mystery of God's action in minds and hearts, in order to assess the power of Christ's grace as he takes possession, in life and in death, of all that "the Father gives him," and which he himself proclaims he does not want to "lose." We hear him repeat this in one of the suggested Gospel readings in the Mass for the dead (cf. Jn 6:39-40).

However, as I wrote in the Encyclical Redemptoris Missio, the gift of salvation cannot be limited "to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the Church. Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to all." 

Lionel:

If there are any exceptions it would be known only to God. We cannot defacto know any of these cases. So they are not exceptions to all needing the baptism of water for salvation in the present times.There are no visble exceptions known to us and neither does Vatican Council II claim that there are exceptions to the dogma defined thrice.

We do not know for instance in 2014 the case of any one who is not explicitly a member of the Catholic Church and who is saved. Did Pope John Paul II assume there were known cases of someone saved outside the Church ?
 

And, in admitting that it is concretely impossible for many people to have access to the Gospel message, I added: "Many people do not have the opportunity to come to know or accept the Gospel revelation or to enter the Church. The social and cultural conditions in which they live do not permit this, and frequently they have been brought up in other religious traditions" (RM 10).

Lionel:

If any of them are saved they are not known for example, in the 2014, to be an exception to all needing faith and baptism for salvation.

We must acknowledge that, as far as human beings can know and foresee, this practical impossibility would seem destined to last a long time, perhaps until the work of evangelization is finally completed. Jesus himself warned that only the Father knows "the exact time" set by him for the establishment of his kingdom in the world (cf. Acts 1:7).

What I have said above, however, does not justify the relativistic position of those who maintain that a way of salvation can be found in any religion, even independently of faith in Christ the Redeemer, and that interreligious dialogue must be based on this ambiguous idea. That solution to the problem of the salvation of those who do not profess the Christian creed is not in conformity with the Gospel. Rather, we must maintain that the way of salvation always passes through Christ, and therefore the Church and her missionaries have the task of making him known and loved in every time, place and culture. Apart from Christ "there is no salvation." 

Lionel:

Apart from the Church there is no salvation. There are no known exceptions.

As Peter proclaimed before the Sanhedrin at the very start of the apostolic preaching: "There is no other name in the whole world given to men by which we are to be saved" (Acts 4:12).

Lionel: 

Formal entry in to the Church is necessary for salvation for all according to Vatican Council II (AG 7).

For those too who through no fault of their own do not know Christ and are not recognized as Christians, the divine plan has provided a way of salvation.

Lionel:

They are irrelevant to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus. This was the error of the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 which inferred that the baptism of desire and being saved in invincible ignorance, were visible to us in real life and so were explicit exceptions to all needing to formally enter the Church for salvation.

 As we read in the Council's Decree Ad Gentes, we believe that "God in ways known to himself can lead those inculpably ignorant of the Gospel" to the faith necessary for salvation (AG 7). Certainly, the condition "inculpably ignorant" cannot be verified nor weighed by human evaluation, but must be left to the divine judgment alone. 

Lionel:

We do not know of any such case in real life. There is no defacto, objective case. So we cannot infer that these cases are exceptions to the literal interpretation of the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus according to the Church Councils, Popes, saints and Fr.Leonard Feeney.

For this reason, the Council states in the Constitution Gaudium et Spes that in the heart of every man of good will, "Grace works in an unseen way.... The Holy Spirit in a manner known only to God offers to every man the possibility of being associated with this paschal mystery" (GS 22).

Lionel:
This is a hypothethical case once again.It is not an exception to the dogma.We do not know any one saved with the grace of the Holy Spirit who did not need the baptism of water for salvation.
The dogmatic teachings are de fide teachings inspired by the Holy Spirit.

It is important to stress that the way of salvation taken by those who do not know the Gospel is not a way apart from Christ and the Church.

Lionel:

However this is an hypothetical case. A theoretical case cannot be an explicit exception to all needing 'faith and baptism' for salvation.(AG 7)

 The universal salvific will is linked to the one mediation of Christ. "God our Savior...wants all men to be saved and come to know the truth. And the truth is this: God is one. One also is the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all" (1 Tim 2:3-6). Peter proclaimed this when he said: "There is no salvation in anyone else" and called Jesus the "cornerstone" (Acts 4:11-12), emphasizing Christ's necessary role at the basis of the Church.

This affirmation of the Savior's "uniqueness" derives from the Lord's own words. He stated that he came "to give his own life in ransom for the many" (Mk 10:45), that is, for humanity, as St. Paul explains when he writes: "One died for all" (2 Cor 5:14; cf. Rom 5:18). Christ won universal salvation with the gift of his own life. No other mediator has been established by God as Savior. The unique value of the sacrifice of the cross must always be acknowledged in the destiny of every man.

Since Christ brings about salvation through his Mystical Body, which is the Church, the way of salvation is connected essentially with the Church. The axiom extra ecclesiam nulla salus"--"outside the Church there is no salvation"--stated by St. Cyprian (Epist. 73, 21; PL 1123 AB), belongs to the Christian tradition. It was included in the Fourth Lateran Council (DS 802), in the Bull Unam Sanctam of Boniface VIII (DS 870) and the Council of Florence (Decretum pro Jacobitis, DS 1351). 

Lionel: 

So far so good ! He affirms the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus. The dogma does not mention any exceptions.

The axiom means that for those who are not ignorant of the fact that the Church has been established as necessary by God through Jesus Christ, there is an obligation to enter the Church and remain in her in order to attain salvation (cf. LG 14).

Lionel: 

There is an obligation for all to enter the Church according to the dogma cited above (Council of Florence etc).If any one who knows and does not enter and is damned  or does not know and is saved  it would be known only to God. De facto, in real life we cannot judge either way. So all need to enter the Church in 2014 for salvation and there are no exceptions.

 For those, however, who have not received the Gospel proclamation, as I wrote in the Encyclical Redemptoris Missio, salvation is accessible in mysterious ways, inasmuch as divine grace is granted to them by virtue of Christ's redeeming sacrifice, without external membership in the Church, but nonetheless always in relation to her (cf. RM 10). 

Lionel: A hypothetical case. We personally do not know any such person.So this hypothetical case is not an exception to the teaching in Cantate Dominio, Council of Florence 1441 on extra ecclesiam nulla salus.It has nothing to do with the dogma unless the pope assumed that these were real objective cases,personally  known to us.

It is a mysterious relationship. It is mysterious for those who receive the grace, because they do not know the Church and sometimes even outwardly reject her. It is also mysterious in itself, because it is linked to the saving mystery of grace, which includes an essential reference to the Church the Savior founded.

Lionel:Those who receive the grace and are saved are not personally known to us and so are not exceptions to the dogma which says all need to formally enter the Church to avoid Hell.

In order to take effect, saving grace requires acceptance, cooperation, a yes to the divine gift. This acceptance is, at least implicitly, oriented to Christ and the Church. Thus it can also be said that sine ecclesia nulla salus--"without the Church there is no salvation." Belonging to the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, however implicitly and indeed mysteriously, is an essential condition for salvation.

Lionel:

There is no mystery to it. Every one needs to be a formal member of the Catholic Church for salvation i.e every one needs Catholic Faith and the baptism of water to go to Heaven(AG 7)

Religions can exercise a positive influence on the destiny of those who belong to them and follow their guidance in a sincere spirit. However, if decisive action for salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit, we must keep in mind that man receives his salvation only from Christ through the Holy Spirit. Salvation already begins during earthly life. This grace, when accepted and responded to, brings forth fruit in the gospel sense for earth and for heaven.

Hence the importance of the Church's indispensable role. 

Lionel: Yes and all need to formally enter the Church to avoid Hell.

She "is not an end unto herself, but rather is fervently concerned to be completely of Christ, in Christ and for Christ, as well as completely of men, among men and for men." This role then is not "ecclesiocentric," as is sometimes said. 

Lionel:Yes it is ecclesiocentric.Since there are no known exceptions to all needing to enter the Church with 'faith and baptism'.There is no known salvation outside the Church. The Letter of the Holy Office 1949 made an objective mistake.

The same mistake was carried over by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the theological papers of the International Theological Commission and the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1257 etc.

It is a fact of life that we cannot see the dead who are now in Heaven. So these persons in Heaven cannot be exceptions on earth to all needing the baptism of water for salvation.

The Church does not exist nor does she work for herself, but is at the service of a humanity called to divine sonship in Christ (cf. RM 19). She thus exercises an implicit mediation also with regard to those who do not know the Gospel.

Lionel: However all still need to be formal members of the Catholic Church for salvation.This is the dogmatic teaching confirmed in Vatican Council Ii (AG 7).

What has been said, however, should not lead to the conclusion that her missionary activity is less needed in these situations--quite the contrary. In fact, whoever does not know Christ, even through no fault of his own, is in a state of darkness and spiritual hunger, often with negative repercussions at the cultural and moral level. The Church's missionary work can provide him with the resources for the full development of Christ's saving grace, by offering full and conscious adherence to the message of faith and active participation in Church life through the sacraments.

This is the theological approach drawn from Christian tradition. The Church's Magisterium has followed it in her doctrine and practice as the way indicated by Christ himself for the apostles and for missionaries in every age.-Pope John Paul II

Lionel:This is not  the theological approach drawn from Christian tradition before 1949. Before 1949 the baptism of desire and being saved in invincible ignorance were not considered explicit for us. They were not considered exceptions to the dogma. This theological approach, of their being exceptions, even when we do not know of a single exception in real life, is Cushingism. It  emerged in the 1940's in Boston. 
There are no objective exceptions. We cannot see  the dead for them to be objective exceptions  to all needing to enter the Church formally with the baptism of water for salvation in 2014 . So if anyone, a cardinal or a pope, infers that we can see the dead it is an objecive mistake.

-Lionel Andrades

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