Saturday, February 25, 2012

INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL COMMISSION OBJECTIVELY WRONG ON INVINCIBLE IGNORANCE

The International Theological Commission has affirmed the dogma, the infallible teaching when it quoted the Letter of the Holy Office 1949.(1) The text of the dogma holds the literal interpretation of extra ecclesiam nulla salus.(2) This was the literal interpretation of the popes and  the Church Councils including Vatican Council II (AG 7, LG 14). This was also the teaching after Vatican Council II in Dominus Iesus 20, the Catechism of the Catholic Church 845, 846 etc.

However there is an objective error made by the ITC.
 The ITC says that in  Mystici Corporis, Pius XII (N.66) asks how are those who attain salvation outside visible communion with the Church related to the Church. He says ' that they are oriented to the mystical body of Christ by a yearning and desire of which they are not aware (DS 3821).'
True, but one could ask what has this to do with the dogma and its exclusive interpretation by Fr. Leonard Feeney, the popes, saints and Church Councils ? Pope Pius XII does not say that those with a yearning and desire are explicitly known to us or that they contradict the dogma. One has to assume it and then imply wrongly and irrationally.

Those non Catholics who have a yearning and desire being unknown to us do not contradict the dogma. This was Fr. Leonard Feeney’s basic position.

None of the members of the ITC know any such case. This is an objective fact.

The ITC sais that in ' the case of invincible ignorance the implicit desire of belonging to the Church suffices; this desire will always be present when a man aspires to conform his will to that of God (DS 3870).' Those who have a yearning and desire of which they are not aware are known only to God. Since they are saved and are in Heaven we do not know any such case. Since we can never know any such case on earth it is irrelevant to the issue; to Fr. Leonard Feeney or the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
Again, we know objectively that those saved in invincible ignorance or the baptism of desire are unknown to us and these persons are in Heaven. So how does this fact contradict the exclusive interpretation of the thrice defined dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus ?
59. The Letter of the Holy Office to the Archbishop of Boston (1949) offers further specifications. “To gain eternal salvation, it is not always required that a person be incorporated in reality (reapse) as a member of the Church, but it is necessary that one belong to it at least in desire and longing (voto et desiderio). It is not always necessary that this desire be explicit as it is with catechumens. When one is invincibly ignorant, God also accepts an implicit desire, so called because it is contained in the good disposition of soul by which a person wants his or her will to be conformed to God’s will”.

Nowhere in Vatican Council II or the Letter of the Holy Office 1949 is it said that we know these exceptional cases or that they contradict the dogma. One has to assume this incorrectly and the ITC makes this assumption.
There can be two interpretations of the Allocution of Pope Pius IX,Singulari Quadam (1854).
58. In the face of new problems and situations and of an exclusive interpretation of the adage: “salus extra ecclesiam non est”,[88] the magisterium, in recent times, has articulated a more nuanced understanding as to the manner in which a saving relationship with the Church can be realized. The Allocution of Pope Pius IX, Singulari Quadam (1854) clearly states the issues involved: “It must, of course, be held as a matter of faith that outside the apostolic Roman Church no one can be saved, that the Church is the only ark of salvation, and that whoever does not enter it, will perish in the flood. On the other hand, it must likewise be held as certain that those who live in ignorance of the true religion, if such ignorance be invincible, are not subject to any guilt in this matter before the eyes of the Lord”. (Emphasis added)

1.Defacto-dejure interpretation.

Pope Pius IX, Singulari Quadam (1854) (Defacto, in reality) “ outside the apostolic Roman Church no one can be saved…the Church is the only ark of salvation… whoever does not enter it, will perish in the flood “ and (Dejure, in principle ) “ it must likewise be held as certain that those who live in ignorance of the true religion, if such ignorance be invincible, are not subject to any guilt in this matter before the eyes of the Lord”.(they can be saved).

2.Defacto-Defacto Interpretation.

Pope Pius IX, Singulari Quadam (1854) (Defacto, in reality) “ outside the apostolic Roman Church no one can be saved…the Church is the only ark of salvation… whoever does not enter it, will perish in the flood “ and (Defacto, in reality) “ it must likewise be held as certain that those who live in ignorance of the true religion, if such ignorance be invincible, are not subject to any guilt in this matter before the eyes of the Lord”.(they can be saved).

The Defacto-Defacto interpretation is used by the ITC. It violates the Principle of Non Contradiction. It assumes that Vatican Council II has contradicted a defined dogma and so the pope was wrong ex cathedra. It assumes the pope was not infalllible ex cathedra. It assumes that the ‘exceptions’ are defacto known to us .This is irrational. It is heresy to suggest that the defined dogma has defacto, known exceptions.This misleads Catholics.

Interpretation N.1 does not contradict the Principle of Non Contradiction. It upholds the exclusive interpretation of salvation in the Catholic Church. It affirms the possibility of non Catholics being saved in invincible ignorance and the baptism of desire, these cases being known only to God. It does not suggest that Vatican Council II contradicted a defined dogma.
-Lionel Andrades
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1.
Now, among those things which the Church has always preached and will never cease to preach is contained also that infallible statement by which we are taught that there is no salvation outside the Church.

However, this dogma must be understood in that sense in which the Church herself understands it. For, it was not to private judgments that Our Savior gave for explanation those things that are contained in the deposit of faith, but to the teaching authority of the Church.-Letter of the Holy Office 1949 ( Emphasis added)

2.
“There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved.” (Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215.)

“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.)

“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.) from Catholicism.org

3.

INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL COMMISSION

CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORLD RELIGIONS (1997)

PRELIMINARY NOTE

Rev. Luis F. Ladaria, S.J. (president);
(Cardinal Luis F.Ladaria S.J, is the present Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Vatican).

A. "Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus"

66. In his encyclical Mystici Corporis, Pius XII addresses the question, How are those who attain salvation outside visible communion with the Church related to her? He says that they are oriented to the mystical body of Christ by a yearning and desire of which they are not aware (DS 3821). The opposition of the American Jesuit Leonard Feeney, who insisted on the exclusivist interpretation of the expression extra ecclesiam nulla solus, afforded the occasion for the letter of the Holy Office, dated 8 August ,1949, to the archbishop of Boston, which rejected Feeney s interpretation and clarified the teaching of Pius XII. The letter distinguishes between the necessity of belonging to the Church for salvation (necessitas praecepti) and the necessity of the indispensable means of salvation (intrinseca necessitas); in relationship to the latter, the Church is a general help for salvation (DS 3867—69). In the case of invincible ignorance the implicit desire of belonging to the Church suffices; this desire will always be present when a man aspires to conform his will to that of God (DS 3870). But faith, in the sense of Hebrews 11:6, and love are always necessary with intrinsic necessity (DS 3872).

67. Vatican Council II makes its own the expression extra ecclesiam nulla salus. But in using it the council explicitly directs itself to Catholics and limits its validity to those who know the necessity of the Church for salvation. The council holds that the affirmation is based on the necessity of faith and of baptism affirmed by Christ (LG 14). In this way the council aligned itself in continuity with the teaching of Pius XII, but emphasized more clearly the original parenthentical character of this expression.

68. In contrast to Pius XII, the council refused to speak of a votum implicitum (implicit desire) and applied the concept of the votum only to the explicit desire of catechumens to belong to the Church (LG 14). With regard to non-Christians, it said that they are ordered in diverse ways to the people of God. In accord with the different ways with which the salvific will of God embraces non-Christians, the council distinguished four groups: first, Jews; second, Muslims; third, those who without fault are ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and do not know the Church but who search for God with a sincere heart and try to fulfill his will as known through conscience; fourth, those who without fault have not yet reached an express knowledge of God but who nonetheless try to lead a good life (LG 16).

69. The gifts which God offers all men for directing themselves to salvation are rooted, according to the council, in his universal salvific will (LG 2, 3, 26; AG 7). The fact that even non-Christians are ordered to the people of God is rooted in the fact that the universal call to salvation includes the vocation of all men to the catholic unity of the people of God (LG 13). The council holds that the close relationship of both vocations is rooted in the unique mediation of Christ, who in his body that is the Church makes himself present in our midst (LG 14).

70. Thus the original meaning is restored to the expression extra ecclesiam nulla salus, namely, that of exhorting the members of the Church to be faithful.31 Once this expression is integrated into the more universal extra Christum nulla salus, it is no longer in contradiction to the universal call of all men to salvation.


INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL COMMISSION

THE HOPE OF SALVATION FOR INFANTS WHO DIE WITHOUT BEING BAPTISED*

2.3. The Need for the Church

57. Catholic tradition has constantly affirmed that the Church is necessary for salvation as the historical mediation of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. This conviction found its classical expression in the adage of St. Cyprian: “Salus extra Ecclesiam non est”.[87] The Second Vatican Council has reiterated this faith conviction: “Basing itself on Scripture and tradition, it [the Council] teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism (cf. Mk 16:16; Jn 3:5), and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it, or to remain in it” (LG 14). The Council expounded the mystery of the Church at length: “The Church, in Christ, is in the nature of [a] sacrament - a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of the unity among all men” (LG 1); “Just as Christ carried out the work of redemption in poverty and oppression, so the Church is called to follow the same path if she is to communicate the fruits of salvation to men” (LG 8). “Rising from the dead (cf. Rom 6:9) he [Christ] sent his life-giving Spirit upon his disciples and through him set up his Body which is the Church as the universal sacrament of salvation” (LG 48). What is striking in these quotations is the universal extent of the Church’s mediating role in ministering God’s salvation: “the unity among all men”, “salvation of [all] men”, “universal sacrament of salvation”.

58. In the face of new problems and situations and of an exclusive interpretation of the adage: “salus extra ecclesiam non est”,[88] the magisterium, in recent times, has articulated a more nuanced understanding as to the manner in which a saving relationship with the Church can be realized. The Allocution of Pope Pius IX, Singulari Quadam (1854) clearly states the issues involved: “It must, of course, be held as a matter of faith that outside the apostolic Roman Church no one can be saved, that the Church is the only ark of salvation, and that whoever does not enter it, will perish in the flood. On the other hand, it must likewise be held as certain that those who live in ignorance of the true religion, if such ignorance be invincible, are not subject to any guilt in this matter before the eyes of the Lord”.[89]

59. The Letter of the Holy Office to the Archbishop of Boston (1949) offers further specifications. “To gain eternal salvation, it is not always required that a person be incorporated in reality (reapse) as a member of the Church, but it is necessary that one belong to it at least in desire and longing (voto et desiderio). It is not always necessary that this desire be explicit as it is with catechumens. When one is invincibly ignorant, God also accepts an implicit desire, so called because it is contained in the good disposition of soul by which a person wants his or her will to be conformed to God’s will”.[90]

60. The universal salvific will of God, realized through Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit, which includes the Church as the universal sacrament of salvation, finds expression in Vatican II: “All men are called to this Catholic unity which prefigures and promotes universal peace. And in different ways to it belong, or are related: all the Catholic faithful, others who believe in Christ and finally all mankind called by God’s grace to salvation” (LG 13). That the unique and universal mediation of Jesus Christ is realized in the context of a relationship with the Church is further reiterated by the post-Conciliar papal magisterium. Speaking of those who have not had the opportunity to come to know or accept Gospel revelation – even in their case, the encyclical Redemptoris Missio has this to say: “Salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace ... which has a mysterious relationship to the Church”.
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070419_un-baptised-infants_en.html

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VATICAN RECOGNIZES DOGMA EXTRA ECCLESIAM NULLA SALUS WITH RIGORIST INTERPRETATION : INVINCIBLE IGNORANCE (LG 16) AND BAPTISM OF DESIRE ARE NOT DEFACTO EXCEPTIONS
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.com/2012/02/vatican-recognizes-dogma-extra.html#links

Former Secretary of the International Theological Commission holds that those saved with the baptism of desire and in invincible ignorance are known to us and so an exception to the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.com/2012/02/secretary-of-international-theological.html

Lionel Andrades: EWTN position paper at odds with authentic Catholic teaching.
http://news444.com/a/685931/lionel_andrades:_ewtn_position_paper_at_odds_with_authentic_catholic_teaching