Lumen Gentium 16 ( saved in invincible ignorance) means saved in invincible ignorance followed by the baptism of water according to Ad Gentes 7

Lumen Gentium  16 ( being saved in invincible ignorance) means saved in invincible ignorance followed by the baptism of water according to Ad Gentes 7. According to Ad Gentes 7 all need the baptism of water for salvation. This would also include those saved in invincible ignorance (16), seeds of the Word (AG 11), imperfect communion with the Church (UR 3) etc.

Lumen Gentium 16 ,is referring to a hypothetical case. It is a theoretical case for us. We cannot see or meet someone saved with initial invincible ignorance of the Catholic Faith followed by instructions in the Faith with the baptism of water .

We do not know any one saved in invincible ignorance or the baptism of desire in 2014. So the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 made a mistake when it suggested that these cases were exceptions to the traditional interpretation of the dogma  according to Fr.Leonard Feeney.

The secular media usually interprets Lumen Gentium 16 as referring to cases saved without the baptism of water,However the text of Vatican Council II does not state that these cases are saved with or without the baptism of water,l They only refer to a possibility.A hypothetical possibility similar to the baptism of desire for a catechumen who dies without having received the baptism of water.

If there is a catechumen who has not received the baptism of water and held a genuine desire God will save him in the way he chooses. However it will always include the baptism of water. This person could  also be sent back to earth to be baptized with water. This was the experience of the saints including St. Francis Xavier. We cannot say that he will be saved only with the baptism of desire and without the baptism of water.Since this is a theoretical case. We do not know any one in particular saved as such. We do not know if St. Emerentina was baptised with water or sent back to earth to be baptized with water.If someone was saved without the baptism of water it would be a contradiction of Ad Gentes 7 and Lumen Gentium 14.

Anyway, with or without the baptism of water, they are not known exceptions in 2014 to all adults needing Catholic Faith and the baptism of water for salvation (AG 7) . This is also the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church according to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus , the Syllabus of Errors, the Catechism of Pope Pius XII etc.

So there is nothing in Vatican Council II, which contradicts the dogma extra ecclesiam, nulla salus as it was traditionally known. Vatican Council II is  Feeneyite.

It does not contradict extra ecclesiam nulla salus as it was interpreted by Fr.Leonard  Feeney.The baptism of desire  and invin cible ignorance being theoretical for us, are irrelevant to all defacto needing the baptism of water , given to adults with Catholic Faith, in 2014.-Lionel Andrades