Wednesday, February 11, 2015

The mention of the necessity of 'faith and baptism' for salvation, is an approval here of the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus, in Vatican Council II (LG 14,AG 7)

secondvaticancouncil7) “Basing itself upon Sacred Scripture and Tradition, [this Council] teaches that the Church, now sojourning on earth as an exile, is necessary for salvation. Christ, present to us in His Body, which is the Church, is the one Mediator and the unique way of salvation. In explicit terms He Himself affirmed the necessity of faith and baptism and thereby affirmed also the necessity of the Church, for through baptism, as through a door, men enter the Church. Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved” (Lumen Gentium, #14).(Lionel: And they are unknown to us and can only be known to God. So they are not exceptions to 'the necessity of faith and baptism'(LG 14) for all in 2015 for salvation ( to avoid Hell).
Vatican II admitted to the possibility of salvation for non-Catholics (Lumen Gentium, #14-16).(Lionel: They could be saved with implicit desire or in inculpable ignorance. However since these are hypothetical cases for us and are  known only to God, we can assume they received the baptism of water and had Catholic Faith, when they went to Heaven. This is the dogmatic teaching. Since these cases cannot be known to us in the present times they are not exceptions to all needing 'faith and baptism' (LG 14,AG 7) for salvation. There is no contradiction here to the 'rigorist' interpretation of the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.) This created a firestorm both within and without the Church, as it seemed to reverse the Church’s perennial teaching of “outside the Church there is no salvation.” (Lionel: The confusion arose with the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 which assumed wrongly, that these cases were known to us in the present times and so it was concluded wrongly, that they were explicit exceptions to the dogma outside the Chruch there is no salvation) The result was that many questioned the necessity of the missionary endeavors of the Church, because if non-Catholics could be saved, why bother trying to convert them? (Lionel: There was no known case of a non Catholic saved outside the Church. This was the mistake of the Letter of the Holy Office 1949. The error was not corrected and so the confusion was allowed to be placed in Vatican Council II LG 14) And one hardly need to mention the fact that now practically every funeral is a mini-canonization ceremony.
There are two important things to note about this passage. One is that it clearly states that those who know of the necessity of the Church for salvation cannot remain outside of it and hope to be saved. (Lionel: This is part of the confusion which came from the Letter of the Holy Office 1949. Since it was wrongly assumed that those saved in invincible ignorance are known to us in personal cases, it was wrongly concluded that only those who know about Jesus and the Church and do not enter, will be condemned. This was a new doctrine created by Cardinal Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani in the Letter of the Holy Office 1949.The original teaching is all with Original Sin need to convert inot the Church to avoid Hell.) The other is that, notwithstanding an acknowledgement of the possibility of salvation for non-Catholics, it also clearly states that the Church is necessary for salvation and that Christ is “the unique way of salvation.” (Lionel: The mention of the necessity of 'faith and baptism' for salvation, is an approval here of the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus, in Vatican Council II (LG 14,AG 7).This was the message also of Fr.Leonard Feeney and the St.Benedict Centers whom Cardinal Marchetti criticized).This is important to mention because some interpret Vatican II’s acknowledgment of the possibility of salvation for non-Catholics as saying that there are other paths of salvation outside the Church. But this, in fact, is not what either the council or the Church teaches. As a 2000 document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith makes clear, God’s “salvific grace … is always given by means of Christ in the Spirit and has a mysterious relationship to the Church.” The point is that those who may happen to be saved outside the visible confines of the Church are not saved in spite of the Church or Christ, but arrive at salvation some way through the Church and Christ. (Lionel: They arrive at salvation with 'faith and baptism'. There is no other way. We also do not know of any person in 2015 who has arrived at salvation through any other way).The council is, in fact, reaffirming the exclusive claim of Christ and His Church as the one path to salvation.  (Lionel: Yes, extra ecclesiam nulla salus according to Fr.Leonard Feeney of Boston and not Cardinal Marchetti at the Holy Office in 1949). - Lionel Andrades
 
 

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