The Eternal Word Television Network has a report on its website The Church and Salvation by Fr. William G. Most (To access it click on Faith, then Teachings, then Catholic Church and finally on The Church and Salvation)
EWTN has edited the original report and shortened it. They refer to Fr. Leonard Feeney who it is well known affirmed the ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus (See copy below 1)
EWTN states
So one like Leonard Feeney who interprets the teaching on the necessity of the Church his own way…
Pius IX (Quanto conficiamur moerore, August 10, 1863) taught: "God... in His supreme goodness and clemency, by no means allows anyone to be punished with eternal punishments who does not have the guilt of voluntary fault." Vatican II (Lumen Gentium # 16) taught the same: "They who without their own fault do not know of the Gospel of Christ and His Church, but yet seek God with sincere heart, and try, under the influence of grace, to carry out His will in practice, known to them through the dictate of conscience, can attain eternal salvation." Pius XII had said (Mystici Corporis Christi) that one can "be related to the Church by a certain desire and wish of which he is not aware", i.e., by the desire to do what God wills in general.
Fr. Leonard Feeney is famous for affirming the dogma as it was known for centuries. Now EWTN is saying that this is not the interpretation of the Church and is heresy since it is contradicted by Lumen Gentium 16 etc.
Apply the Three Common Sense Points.
1. There is no way that we can know of a particular person saved in invincible ignorance or the baptism of desire because of its very nature. It is known only to God.
2. There is no text in Vatican Council II or the Catechism which claims we know of any such case.
3. So Vatican Council II and the Catechism do not contradict the ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus (1).-The Three Common Sense Points
The baptism of desire is a gift of God. We cannot claim that someone has received the Baptism of Desire this month. We cannot claim to know the Mind of God. We cannot claim that someone or many people have been saved in invincible ignorance this month.
EWTN makes the common error. They postulate that since it is possible to be saved in invincible ignorance we know of such cases in real life. Then they suggest this contradicts the dogma which says everyone needs to enter the Church for salvation and there are no exceptions.
The Baptism of Desire or being saved in Invincible Ignorance for us: is only a belief. It’s theoretical. It is accepted in principle. De jure. While the Baptism of water is something real, tangible, observable and repeatable. It’s de facto.
The question is: is there one person this month saved with the baptism of desire or being in invincible ignorance? Can EWTN's administration and apologists answer yes?
If I ask them if there was a case of the baptism of desire this month, or last year, they are not going to say yes.
We believe that someone who has not had the Gospel preached to him can be saved. God would provide the necessary helps needed (St. Thomas Aquinas).However because we believe this it does not mean someone is saved in this condition, this month, or over the last year.
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1.
Here is the ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus (Outside the Church there is no salvation)
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.com/2011/02/ewtn-and-three-common-sense-points.html1. “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, 302.). 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/ ) /
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