The key difference between the two interpretations of extra ecclesiam nulla salus is LG 16: are those saved in invincible ignorance known explicitly only to God or also to us?
There are two interpretations of extra ecclesiam nulla salus (EENS) outside the church there is no salvation.The key difference between the two is Lumen Gentium 16, Vatican Council II.
If Lumen Gentium 16 refers to explicit, knowable to us, cases of persons saved in invincible ignorance then it contradicts Cantate Domino. So we have the liberal, Jewish Left media interpretation.
If LG 16 refers to those saved in invincible ignorance etc and which is known only to God then it does not contradict Cantate Domino. We have the traditional, Fr. Feeney interpretation.
If LG 16 refers to those saved in invincible ignorance etc and which is known only to God then it does not contradict Cantate Domino. We have the traditional, Fr. Feeney interpretation.
Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them through the dictates of conscience.-Lumen Gentium 16, Vatican Council II.
So which one is correct?
The issue is not really of theology. The answer is known also through good, familiar common sense.
If a First Communicant explains it clearly to you that only God can finally know who is saved in invincible ignorance that should be the end of one interpretation of EENS.
It means there is no text in Vatican Council II which contradicts Cantate Domino.
There is no Magisterial text which contradicts Cantate Domino.
That’s the end of some 50 - plus years of propaganda on extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
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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
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