ARCHBISHOP MARCEL LEFEBVRE CALLED "TO PREACH" THE RIGORIST INTERPRETATION OF "EXTRA ECCLESIAM NULLA SALUS"

Ex cathedra dogma is Magisterial teaching and not been retracted. Liberal teaching 'except for those in invincible ignorance etc' is not official teaching but sustained by the media

On a Catholic forum it has emerged that after all these years of misinformation Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the founder of the Society of St. Pius X called to preach the rigorist interpretation of the ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus, which has only one interpretation.

Pages 217-218: “This is then what Pius IX said and what he condemned. It is necessary to understand the formulation that was so often employed by the Fathers of the Church: ‘Outside the Church there is no salvation.’ When we say that, it is incorrectly believed that we think that all the Protestants, all the Moslems, all the Buddhists, all those who do not publicly belong to the Catholic Church go to hell. Now, I repeat, it is possible for someone to be saved in these religions, but they are saved by the Church, and so the formulation is true: Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus. This must be preached.”[Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Against the Heresies, pp. 217-218] (Emphasis added)

Here is the ex cathedra dogma, advocated by Fr.Leonard Feeney and the SSPX founder but misinterpreted by the SSPX bishops, priests and lay persons.

The dogma does not refer to explicit or implicit baptism of desire or invincible ignorance. Humanly we cannot know any such case if it exists. It is only known to God.

1. “There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved.” (Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215). Ex cathedra.

2.“We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” (Pope Boniface VIII, the Bull Unam Sanctam, 1302.).Ex cathedra.

3.“The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church.” (Pope Eugene IV, the Bull Cantate Domino, 1441.) Ex cathedra – from the website Catholicism.org and “No Salvation outside the Church”: Link List, the Three Dogmatic Statements Regarding EENS http://nosalvationoutsideofthecatholicchurch.blogspot.com/

So in a sense the dogma is saying ‘there is no baptism of desire’ or ‘invincible ignorance’.

So it is this dogma which the SSPX founder called to proclaim when he said "preach" extra ecclesiam nulla salus.

The infallible teaching says everyone on earth needs to be an explicit formal member of the Catholic Church for salvation and there are no exceptions. It does not rule out that known to God only, there could be people saved with the baptism desire, invincible ignorance etc. 'in certain circumstances' (Letter of the Holy Office 1949).For the Archbishop and us, this is a just a hypothetical probability and not an actuality that can ever be known.

God could provide the helps needed for these special cases.St Thomas Aquinas said God would tell the person what to do or send someone to baptize him.Hence the communities of Fr. Leonard Feeney agree that a person can be saved with the baptism desire which must culminate with the baptism of water.

For centuries the interpretation of this dogma was the same, constant, in the Catholic Church and never was the theology, the mantra, used:'everybody needs to enter the Church except for those in invincible ignorance, the baptism of desire etc. This teaching was not part of the Catholic deposit of faith but was introduced by dissident Cardinal Richard Cushing and the Jesuits at Boston. This was of course before Vatican Council II.

This liberal thinking was somehow picked up by the followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and used to reinterpret his teachings with the liberal mantra.

This is heresy. 1) It is implying that we can know people in genuine invincible ignorance etc and they are exceptions to everybody needing to explicitly enter the Church.2) It is irrational. No SSPX priest knows a single case of explicit or implicit baptism of desire. How can he ever claim anyone is an exception? And if he does not know any exceptions in particular why mention it?

The SSPX needs to again reaffirm the ex cathedra dogma and make its text available for all its members to read.

This ex cathedra teaching states all Protestants (heretics) and Orthodox Christians (schismatics) are on the way to Hell, and not just only 'those who know' about the Catholic Church. It includes those 'who know' and all others too. It includes non Catholics born with Original Sin and who commit mortal sins in that state .We do not know any genuine case of those ‘who do not know’ since only God can judge them and it is unknown to us.

The ex cathedra dogma is in accord with Ad Gentes 7, Vatican Council II ‘all people’ need Catholic Faith and the baptism of water for salvation and the Catechism of the Catholic Church 845,' the Church is the only Ark of Noah that saves in the Flood'. God the Father wants all people to be united in the Catholic Church. (CCC)

 Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre was affirming the traditional rigorist interpretation of extra ecclesiam nulla salus.

It means 1) all who are saved are saved by Jesus and this church (CCC) and 2) 'all  people' need to be explicit, formal members of this Church for salvation (Cantate Domino, Council of Florence, Dominus Iesus 20, Ad Gentes 7 etc)

Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Against the Heresies, p. 216:


“Evidently, certain distinctions must be made. Souls can be saved in a religion other than the Catholic religion (Protestantism, Islam, Buddhism, etc.), but not by this religion. There may be souls who, not knowing Our Lord, have by the grace of the good Lord, good interior dispositions, who submit to God...But some of these persons make an act of love which implicitly is equivalent to baptism of desire. It is uniquely by this means that they are able to be saved.”[Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Against the Heresies, Angelus Press, 1997, p. 216]


Bishop Lefebvre, Address given at Rennes, France: “If men are saved in Protestantism, Buddhism or Islam, they are saved by the Catholic Church, by the grace of Our Lord, by the prayers of those in the Church, by the blood of Our Lord as individuals, perhaps through the practice of their religion, perhaps of what they understand in their religion, but not by their religion…” [Quoted in Bro. Robert Mary, Fr. Feeney and the Truth About Salvation, p. 213]

The dogma indicates that billions of non Catholics are on the way to Hell unless before they die they convert into the Catholic Church. The ex cathedra teaching is not referring to only those millions of informed non Catholics in modern cities like Rome, who will be lost to eternal death (AG 7) since they did not enter the Church even after being informed.

There are presently talks between the SSPX and the Congregation or the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican. Both groups acknowledge that extra ecclesiam nulla salus is a Magisterial teaching and the Church has not retracted this dogma.

It’s the secular media which refers to the ‘rigorist interpretation’ implying there are two or more interpretations of an infallible teaching.

Protestant sources over the years have alleged that the Church has retracted this dogma, developed or changed its meaning. Dominus Iesus, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Notification on Fr. Jacques Dupuis 2001etc  shows  there has been no change.

SSPX priests who understand the situation do not know a way out. They realize there can be no such thing as an explicit or implicit baptism of desire that we can know of. Yet they need to be faithful to the misinterpretation of the teachings of Archbishop Lefebvre on this subject.
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.com/2010/09/archbishop-marcel-lefebvre-called-to.html#links