Does the Council of Florence reject the Church's teaching on invincible ignorance?

[Askmea]

I was talking to a Calvinist friend of mine and he gave me this quote from the Council of Florence.

“It firmly believes, professes, and proclaims that those not living within the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics cannot become participants in eternal life, but will depart ‘into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels’ [Matt. 25:41], unless before the end of life the same have been added to the flock; and that the unity of the ecclesiastical body is so strong that only to those remaining in it are the sacraments of the Church of benefit for salvation, and do fastings, almsgiving, and other functions of piety and exercises of Christian service produce eternal reward, and that no one, whatever almsgiving he has practiced, even if he has shed blood for the name of Christ, can be saved, unless he has remained in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.”

Is there a contradiction between the Church’s current teaching that some could be saved through no fault of there own and this Council of Florence quote?

 

[JerryZ]

Hmm! The Council of Florence was convened to close the schism between the East and the West. It was an ecumenical council with that specific issue.
Can you ask your friend to provide where in the documents he read this declaration?
Peace!

 

[Todd_Easton]

The statement you quote seems to assume the implementation of the Council of Basel-Ferrara-Florence’s Decree on Jews and neophytes, which mandated that everyone who had reached the age of reason receive instruction in the Catholic faith several times a year, by compulsion if necessary, and be treated with charity and other kindnesses so that none could be invincible ignorant.

SESSION 19 7 September 1434:
. . .
[Decree on Jews and neophytes]

The holy general synod of Basel, legitimately assembled in the holy Spirit, representing the universal church, for an everlasting record. This holy synod following in the footsteps of our saviour Jesus Christ, desires in deepest charity that all may acknowledge the truth of the gospel and thereafter abide in it faithfully. By these salutary instructions it desires to provide measures whereby Jews and other infidels may be converted to the orthodox faith and converts may remain steadfastly in it. It therefore decrees that all diocesan bishops should depute persons well trained in scripture, several times a year, in the places where Jews and other infidels live, to preach and expound the truth of the catholic faith in such a way that the infidels who hear it can recognize their errors. They should compel infidels of both sexes who have reached the age of discretion, to attend these sermons under pain both of being excluded from business dealings with the faithful and of other apposite penalties. But the bishops and the preachers should behave towards them with such charity as to gain them for Christ not only by the manifestation of the truth but with charity and other kindnesses. The synod decrees that Christians of whatever rank or status who in any way impede the attendance of Jews at these sermons, or who forbid it, automatically incur the stigma of being supporters of unbelief. (source)
. . .

 

[Vico]

…
unless before the end of life the same have been added to the flock
…
unless he has remained in
…

1. God is not bound to his sacraments, so one could be saved through baptism of desire or baptism of blood.
2. In order to remain in one must first be in.

 

[Emeraldlady]

Is there a contradiction between the Church’s current teaching that some could be saved through no fault of there own and this Council of Florence quote?

Tell your friend that we are a living Church. An institution dedicated to salvation from age to age. So like say the living medical institution, physicians treat people with the view to saving them, with the best knowledge they have in their day. In medieval times the only saving treatment for a gangrenous limb was amputation. Today, science has developed knowledge of disease and treatments that means salvation can be achieved by medicine to preserve the whole body without condemning the limb.

It’s the same with the Church’s capacity to understand the condition of man and direct ‘treatment’ in a way that best serves the path to salvation.

 

[pnewton]

unless before the end of life the same have been added to the flock; and that the unity of the ecclesiastical body is so strong that only to those remaining in it are the sacraments of the Church of benefit for salvation, and do fastings, almsgiving, and other functions of piety and exercises of Christian service produce eternal reward, and that no one, whatever almsgiving he has practiced, even if he has shed blood for the name of Christ, can be saved, unless he has remained in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.”

There is an understanding that there can be unity to the Body of Christ even for those who are outside the visible Catholic Church. While this understanding has taken on greater significance in the last 100 years, it is clear that even at the Council of Florence there was a little nuancing going on.

It looked to me like this might have been from a papal bull issued during the council itself, more than a counciliar document, but that is beyond my ken.

 

[poche]

This has to be understood within the context of what the Catholic Church teaches about invincible ignorance.

 

[Genesis315]

This passage is from the bull of union with the Copts that was issued and approved at the Council of Florence and promulgated by Pope Eugene IV. It affirms their common faith in the one Church they now both belong to (although the union would be short lived, for the most part, sadly). The Church has always held this to be a dogmatic definition affirming the truth that salvation is only found in the Church (this same truth has been defined multiple times, and handed on since the beginning). As for the OPs question:

“It firmly believes, professes, and proclaims that those not living within the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics cannot become participants in eternal life, but will depart ‘into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels’ [Matt. 25:41], unless before the end of life the same have been added to the flock; and that the unity of the ecclesiastical body is so strong that only to those remaining in it are the sacraments of the Church of benefit for salvation, and do fastings, almsgiving, and other functions of piety and exercises of Christian service produce eternal reward, and that no one, whatever almsgiving he has practiced, even if he has shed blood for the name of Christ, can be saved, unless he has remained in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.”

I’ve bolded the key parts. Those who are ignorant or socially separated form the Church in good faith, but who persevere to the end in faith and charity, would, for the purposes of salvation, be included within the Church for the purposes of this definition. Such a person would be saved. Someone who obstinately perseveres in heresy, schism, or faithlessness would of course not be saved.

This is not a new concept. As St. Augustine put it:

The Apostle Paul has said: A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject, knowing that he that is such is subverted and sins, being condemned of himself. Titus 3:10-11 But though the doctrine which men hold be false and perverse, if they do not maintain it with passionate obstinacy, especially when they have not devised it by the rashness of their own presumption, but have accepted it from parents who had been misguided and had fallen into error, and if they are with anxiety seeking the truth, and are prepared to be set right when they have found it, such men are not to be counted heretics.

https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102043.htm

Being wrong and being a heretic or schismatic are not the same thing when it comes to salvation.

As for those without faith (like pagans), the Church teaches for those in good conscience seeking the truth, “in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him” (CCC 848).