G
gabriel22a
Guest
Thank you for your clarification. I know there are Catholics who believe the interpretations you make, but that many do not. Salvation through the Church does not require membership in it. I have read the arguments for both sides and I’m afraid at this point we’ll have to agree to disagree.I was not referring to Protestants when speaking of invincible ignorance.
Though, the reference (if you have the Companion to the Catechism of the Catholic Church) for paragraph 817 is Canon 751 which reads, “Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.”
And if you read further into the documents of the Second Vatican Council also referenced to the CCC 817-819 it reads, “Nevertheless, our separated brethren, whether considered as individuals or as Communities and Churches, are not blessed with that unity which Jesus Christ wished to bestow on all those who through Him were born again into one body, and with Him quickened to newness of life-that unity which the Holy Scriptures and the ancient Tradition of the Church proclaim. For it is only through Christ’s Catholic Church, which is “the all-embracing means of salvation,” that they can benefit fully from the means of salvation. We believe that Our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant to the apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, in order to establish the one Body of Christ on earth to which all should be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the people of God.” (Unitatis redintegratio, 3) [my emphasis]
I mean that they are not damned for the sin of heresy/apostasy/etc. They are not held culpable for sinning against the faith. They are culpable for sins against natural law (murder, lying, stealing, etc.), which, without the grace of Christ cannot be forgiven.
There is no middle ground, you misunderstood me.
No that’s not what I meant; but, those aware of ignorance are not ignorant so they could not count on it.
The dogma (which is meant as it says) is that there is no salvation out of the Church. See the references I mentioned above. The Second Vatican Council did not intend to say that Protestants could be saved as Protestants.