DECLARATION
"DOMINUS IESUS"ON THE UNICITY AND SALVIFIC UNIVERSALITY
OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE CHURCH
"DOMINUS IESUS"ON THE UNICITY AND SALVIFIC UNIVERSALITY
OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE CHURCH
It was a mistake. It was overlooked.Those who are in Heaven cannot be seen on earth to be exceptions to the traditional and 'rigorist interpretation' of extra ecclesiam nulla salus.If you cannot see or meet an exception there is no exception.There were no known cases of someone saved outside the Church i.e without Catholic Faith and the baptism of water.
This was an objective error in the Letter of the Holy Office 1949. It is a fact of life that we cannot see the dead saved without the baptism of water ( if there ever was such a case in the present times). So they are irrelevant to the dogma on salvation.It still stands.The dogma cannot be set aside by a 1949 inter office letter from a cardinal (Marchetti-Selvaggini) and that too with an objective error.
This factual mistake in the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 has been overlooked by the Magisterium since the time of Pope Pius XII.
The visible dead theory, the ability to see the dead on earth, has been accepted in magisterial documents when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.I noticed the error yesterday in Redemptoris Missio and Dominus Iesus.
By assuming the dead now in Heaven are physically visible to us, these documents on salvation and evangelisation have been water downed.They do not state that all non Catholics are oriented to Hell ( as does the dogma) and all need to convert into the Catholic Church. They do not cite the three definitions of extra ecclesiam nulla salus, infallible teachings of three Church Councils.
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Here is confusion in Dominus Iesus issued by Pope John Paul II.The error comes from the dead man walking and visible theory; the visible-dead theory from 1949 in Boston.Dominus Iesus is an exemplary document otherwise and was long over due.
8.The hypothesis of the inspired value of the sacred writings of other religions is also put forward. Certainly, it must be recognized that there are some elements in these texts which may be de facto instruments by which countless people throughout the centuries have been and still are able today to nourish and maintain their life-relationship with God. Thus, as noted above, the Second Vatican Council, in considering the customs, precepts, and teachings of the other religions, teaches that “although differing in many ways from her own teaching, these nevertheless often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men”.
Lionel:
Here it is not said that Vatican Council II (NA 2) does not contradict the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus ( Cantate Dominio, Council of Florence 1441). We do not know anyone saved in another religion without Catholic Faith and the baptism of water. So those who are saved with ' a ray of the Truth' (NA 2) would also need to have 'faith and baptism'(AG 7).Anyway, with or without the baptism of water we still have hypothetical cases. Theoretical cases cannot be defacto exceptions to the dogma.Objectively we do not know of any such exception in 2014.
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9.Furthermore, to justify the universality of Christian salvation as well as the fact of religious pluralism, it has been proposed that there is an economy of the eternal Word that is valid also outside the Church and is unrelated to her, in addition to an economy of the incarnate Word. The first would have a greater universal value than the second, which is limited to Christians, though God's presence would be more full in the second.
Lionel:
He simply had to say that we do not know any one saved outside the Church.So there is no conflict with the dogma on exclusive salvation.He could not say this. Since he assumes there is salvation outside the Church .For him Fr.Leonard Feeney was wrong and was corrected by Pope Pius XII.This is confirmed in two of the International Theological Commission papers approved by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
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12.Furthermore, the salvific action of Jesus Christ, with and through his Spirit, extends beyond the visible boundaries of the Church to all humanity. Speaking of the paschal mystery, in which Christ even now associates the believer to himself in a living manner in the Spirit and gives him the hope of resurrection, the Council states: “All this holds true not only for Christians but also for all men of good will in whose hearts grace is active invisibly. For since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery”.
Lionel:
Yes .However we do not know of any one saved 'beyond the visible boundaries of the Church' i.e without Catholic Faith (AG 7).So there are no exceptions to the traditional 'rigorist interpretation' of the dogma.All Christians (non Catholics) need to convert formally into the Catholic Church (Cantate Dominio,Council of Florence 1441).Cardinal Ratzinger could not clarify this point .Since he has accepted the false premise.For him the dead who are in Heaven saved with the baptism of desire etc are phsyically visible and known on earth. So for him the dogma is no more applicable because of his oversight.
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12.In conclusion, the action of the Spirit is not outside or parallel to the action of Christ. There is only one salvific economy of the One and Triune God, realized in the mystery of the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son of God, actualized with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, and extended in its salvific value to all humanity and to the entire universe: “No one, therefore, can enter into communion with God except through Christ, by the working of the Holy Spirit”.
Lionel:
Agreed. However he leaves out the necessity of formal entry into the Catholic Church. He is limited here.Since for him there is known salvation outside the Church.There are personally known cases of someone saved without Catholic Faith, even though these persons are in Heaven and not physically visible to us to be exceptions. So he cannot support Fr.Leonard Feeney and say instead:
“No one, therefore, can enter into communion with God except through Christ, by the working of the Holy Spirit” in the Catholic Church.If any one is saved outside the Church it would be hypothetical for him and not part of his reality, he does not realize.
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14.Hence, those solutions that propose a salvific action of God beyond the unique mediation of Christ would be contrary to Christian and Catholic faith.
Lionel:
However to propose 'a salvific action of God beyond the unique mediation of Christ' in only the Catholic Church is not contrary to the Catholic faith for him.He has put aside the dogma on exclusive salvation, the Syllabus of Errors etc.
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17.Therefore, there exists a single Church of Christ, which subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the Successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him.58 The Churches which, while not existing in perfect communion with the Catholic Church, remain united to her by means of the closest bonds, that is, by apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist, are true particular Churches.59 Therefore, the Church of Christ is present and operative also in these Churches, even though they lack full communion with the Catholic Church, since they do not accept the Catholic doctrine of the Primacy, which, according to the will of God, the Bishop of Rome objectively has and exercises over the entire Church.
Lionel:
'are true particular Churches' whose members need to convert formally into the Catholic Church for salvation. This would be the traditional teaching according to the dogma.It has been rejected by the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 which supposes the baptism of desire and being saved in invincible ignorance refer to known cases on earth.
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17.On the other hand, the ecclesial communities which have not preserved the valid Episcopate and the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic mystery, are not Churches in the proper sense...
Lionel:
He supports the dogma here but will later contradict it because of the confusion which has come from the Letter in 1949.
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17....however, those who are baptized in these communities are, by Baptism, incorporated in Christ and thus are in a certain communion, albeit imperfect, with the Church.
Lionel:
We do not know any one who is in imperfect communion with the Church (UR 3) and who is saved without formal entry.We do not know any one as such, who contradicts the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.This was an observation lost to Cardinal Ratzinger.Pope John Paul II did not notice it too.
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17.“Therefore, these separated Churches and communities as such, though we believe they suffer from defects, have by no means been deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation which derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Catholic Church”.
Lionel:
Yes as a possibility and known only to God.So this passage does not refer to an explicit exception to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
The text in Vatican Council II does not state that this is a reference to the dogma .The text does not says that this is an exception to the dogma. One can assume it refers to dejure cases ,accepted in principle with the baptism of water or, one can wrongly infer that these are defacto cases, objectively known in the present times and so are exceptions to the dogma.Cardinal Ratzinger has chosen the irrational inference.
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20.For those who are not formally and visibly members of the Church, “salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church, but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation.
Lionel:
'those who are not formally and visibly members of the Church' and are saved are not known to us in the present times. So they are irrelevant to the traditional interpretation of dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus according to the Church Councils, the popes, saints and Fr.Leonard Feeney.
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21.With respect to the way in which the salvific grace of God — which is always given by means of Christ in the Spirit and has a mysterious relationship to the Church — comes to individual non-Christians, the Second Vatican Council limited itself to the statement that God bestows it “in ways known to himself...
Lionel:
' the way in which the salvific grace of God...comes to individual non-Christians...' is again not known to us Catholics on earth. So this passage is not relevant to the dogma and the traditional teaching on salvation and the traditional ecclesiology.
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