Unam Sanctam and salvation

[SheepsCousin]

Papal encyclical Unam Sanctam (Unam Sanctam - Papal Encyclicals) contains these infallible words:

Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

Can someone explain how this doesn’t so clearly contradict the idea that Protestants etc. can be saved?

 

[Beryllos]

Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

What precisely is meant here by subject?

 

[Vico]

…

Excerpt from Vatican I, Session 2 : 6 January 1870 at the end of the Profession of Faith is:

This true Catholic faith, outside of which none can be saved, which I now freely profess and truly hold, is what I shall steadfastly maintain and confess, by the help of God, in all its completeness and purity until my dying breath, and I shall do my best to ensure [2] that all others do the same. This is what I, the same Pius, promise, vow and swear. So help me God and these holy gospels of God.

Notes 2 The profession of faith of the other fathers continues: my subjects, or those for whom I have responsibility in virtue of my office, hold, teach and preach the same.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

869 The Church is apostolic. She is built on a lasting foundation: “the twelve apostles of the Lamb” ( Rev 21:14). She is indestructible (cf. Mt 16:18). She is upheld infallibly in the truth: Christ governs her through Peter and the other apostles, who are present in their successors, the Pope and the college of bishops.

816 "The sole Church of Christ [is that] which our Savior, after his Resurrection, entrusted to Peter’s pastoral care, commissioning him and the other apostles to extend and rule it. . . . This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in ( subsistit in ) the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him."267

The Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism explains: "For it is through Christ’s Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained. It was to the apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, that we believe that our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant, in order to establish on earth the one Body of Christ into which all those should be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the People of God."268

267 Lumen gentium 8 § 2.
268 Unitatis redintegratio 3 § 5.

 

[fhansen]

More from the catechism:

"Outside the Church there is no salvation"

846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?335 Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:

Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the 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, 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.336

847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:

Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.337

 

[Genesis315]

Can someone explain how this doesn’t so clearly contradict the idea that Protestants etc. can be saved?

It simply a re-formulation of the dogma that union with the Church is necessary for salvation. It simply clarifies which Church we’re talking about: the one subject to the Roman Pontiff. It should be understood the same as how that dogma is understood.

First of all, baptism makes one subject to the Church’s jurisdiction (even though she rarely exercises it over non-Catholics–usually only in situations regarding marriage), of which the Roman Pontiff may exercise it in its supreme form. A person who is baptized, and in good faith–that is, not guilty of schism or heresy–is subject to the Roman Pontiff even if they don’t know it, because they belong to the Church.

St. John Paul II included this definition with the two other definitions of this dogma from the Fourth Lateran Council and the Council of Florence–it should be understood in the same sense as those:

St. John Paul II

Since Christ brings about salvation through his Mystical Body, which is the Church, the way of salvation is connected essentially with the Church. The axiom extra Ecclesiam nulla salus—“outside the Church there is no salvation”—stated by St. Cyprian (Epist. 73, 21; PL 1123 AB), belongs to the Christian tradition and was included in the Fourth Lateran Council (DS 802), in the Bull Unam sanctam of Boniface VIII (DS 870) and in the Council of Florence (Decretum pro jacobitis, DS 1351).

https://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP950531.HTM

Here’s another modern Pope expressing this same truth:

St. John XXIII

The Saviour Himself is the door of the sheepfold: ‘I am the door of the sheep.’ Into this fold of Jesus Christ, no man may enter unless he be led by the Sovereign Pontiff; and only if they be united to him can men be saved, for the Roman Pontiff is the Vicar of Christ and His personal representative on earth.
(original Latin linked below)
http://www.vatican.va/content/john-...j-xxiii_hom_19581104_solenne-pontificale.html

 

[SheepsCousin]

@Genesis315 You explained this very well, thanks!

 

[AlNg]

Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

This is just my personal opinion, but it looks to me like this teaching has been changed.

 

[commenter]

SheepsCousin:

Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

This is just my personal opinion, but it looks to me like this teaching has been changed.

Would you agree there was a development of the doctrine between Christ’s directive to Peter, and Unam Samctam? If you can accept that development, why not accept the development between Unam Sanctam and V2, keeping in mind the V2 doc was signed by a pope?

Wouldn’t the “binding and loosing” authority apply to St Pope Paul?

 

[AlNg]

Would you agree there was a development of the doctrine between Christ’s directive to Peter, and Unam Samctam? If you can accept that development, why not accept the development between Unam Sanctam and V2, keeping in mind the V2 doc was signed by a pope?

Wouldn’t the “binding and loosing” authority apply to St Pope Paul?

I agree with all that, but IMHO it still looks like there has been a change in teaching. Similarly to the pronouncements at Florence.

 

[Genesis315]

I agree with all that, but IMHO it still looks like there has been a change in teaching. Similarly to the pronouncements at Florence.

How so?

Council of Florence

It firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the catholic church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the catholic church before the end of their lives.

This definition excludes those without faith from the Church, and therefore from salvation. Faith is absolutely necessary for salvation. But simply being wrong does not make one faithless. Take heretics and schismatics first. Heresy and schism are mortal sins, so if one perseveres to the end in such a sin, one could not be saved. However, like all sins, they require the requisite knowledge and deliberation. Baptized persons with faith in Christ who are wrong in good faith are still “joined to the catholic church.” This is nothing new:

St. Augustine:

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.

CHURCH FATHERS: Letter 43 (St. Augustine)

So good-faith Protestants are not heretics for this definition. As for those classes of persons Florence notes that lack faith in Christ, if they persevere to the end in this they cannot be saved:

From the modern Catechism:

The necessity of faith

161 Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation.42 "Since “without faith it is impossible to please [God]” and to attain to the fellowship of his sons, therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life ‘But he who endures to the end.’"43

However, God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (cf. 1 Tim. 2:4). Therefore as Vatican II says of those following an upright conscience, “God in ways known to Himself can lead those inculpably ignorant of the Gospel to find that faith without which it is impossible to please Him.” (Vatican II, Ad Gentes 7). This may even happen at the “eleventh hour” (Cf. Matt. 20:6-9). Such persons would indeed be “joined to the Catholic Church before the end of their lives” as Florence says and if they otherwise persevere in grace and charity, will be saved.

 

[AlNg]

How so?

It says that Jews who are not joined to the catholic church before the end of their lives will go to hell.

 

[Genesis315]

It says that Jews who are not joined to the catholic church before the end of their lives will go to hell.

Anyone not joined to the Catholic Church before the ends of their lives will not be saved, Jew or Gentile. A Jewish person would be separated like the others are, by remaining obstinately opposed to Christ and His Church, and therefore destroying faith.

Again, to quote the Catechism about those who do not have faith in Christ:

161 Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation.42 "Since “without faith it is impossible to please [God]” and to attain to the fellowship of his sons, therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life ‘But he who endures to the end.’"43
From the modern Catechism:

As St. John Paul II noted in one of his catechetical audiences after discussing the possibility of salvation for all:

What I have said above, however, does not justify the relativistic position of those who maintain that a way of salvation can be found in any religion, even independently of faith in Christ the Redeemer, and that interreligious dialogue must be based on this ambiguous idea. That solution to the problem of the salvation of those who do not profess the Christian creed is not in conformity with the Gospel. Rather, we must maintain that the way of salvation always passes through Christ, and therefore the Church and her missionaries have the task of making him known and loved in every time, place and culture. Apart from Christ “there is no salvation.” As Peter proclaimed before the Sanhedrin at the very start of the apostolic preaching: “There is no other name in the whole world given to men by which we are to be saved” (Acts 4:12).

For those too who through no fault of their own do not know Christ and are not recognized as Christians, the divine plan has provided a way of salvation. As we read in the Council’s Decree Ad Gentes, we believe that “God in ways known to himself can lead those inculpably ignorant of the Gospel” to the faith necessary for salvation (AG 7).

Certainly even “in ways known to Himself” God will lead any Jewish person seeking to be faithful to His covenant to its fulfillment–which is why we pray for that on Good Friday. Because they believe in God and at least some of his authentic revelation, they are much more on the path to the fullness of faith than, say, pagans. Plus, we have the promises in Scripture of the final conversion of all Israel to Christ. But one who remains obstinately separated from Christ and the Church will not be joined to the Church and will not be saved (today’s Gospel reading for Mass was a parable about this very thing, among other things).

It’s also worth noting, St. Bridget of Sweden’s revelations speak of such Jews in good faith being saved (Book 3, chapter 26), and her revelations were confirmed to be orthodox during the Council of Florence itself (during its session in Basel in 1436)–so clearly no contradiction was seen.

 

[AlNg]

Anyone not joined to the Catholic Church before the ends of their lives will not be saved, Jew or Gentile.

No, because according to a document published on the Vatican website: "36. From the Christian confession that there can be only one path to salvation, however, it does not in any way follow that the Jews are excluded from God’s salvation because they do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel and the Son of God. "
https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/relations-jews-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_20151210_ebraismo-nostra-aetate_en.html#5._The_universality_of_salvation_in_Jesus_Christ_and_God’s_unrevoked_covenant_with_Israel

 

[Genesis315]

First, this document specifically says of itself: “The text is not a magisterial document or doctrinal teaching of the Catholic Church” so it really isn’t relevant to establishing a teaching or a change in such. If there were a contradiction, this one must be disregarded. But let’s look at it anyway.

First, in paragraph 17 it “affirm salvation through an explicit or even implicit faith in Christ”. This, along with charity, joins one to the Church. This is the “one path” your paragraph mentions. Second, the part you highlighted is simply reiterating what is said in Nostra Aetate, that “the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God”–ie their past and even current rejection of the Gospel does not definitively cut them off from the future possibility of salvation. On the contrary, God still offers them salvation first and foremost. As St. Thomas explains well in his commentary on Romans (your text at issue explicitly says it is framing this like St. Paul in Romans):

Some excerpts (the continuation in the next post is needed to give the whole picture):

252.Someone could belittle the Jews’ prerogative by citing their ingratitude, through which they would seem to have set aside the value of God’s message. Hence he says, what if some were unfaithful? Does this show that the Jew has no advantage, especially in the light of 2 Pt (2:21): “It would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandments delivered to them.” For they did not believe the Lawgiver: “They had no faith in his promises” (Ps 106:24) or the prophets: “They are a rebellious house” (Ez 2:6) or the Son of God: “If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?” (Jn 8:46).

253.Then when he says Does their faithlessness (v3b) he excludes this objection by showing the unsuitable conclusion it engenders. For if the Jews’ prerogative were taken away on account of the unbelief of some, it would follow that man’s unbelief would nullify God’s faithfulness – which is an unacceptable conclusion.
…
In another way, it can be understood as referring to the faith with which God is faithful in keeping His promises: “He who promised is faithful” (Heb 10:23). This faithfulness would be nullified, if it happened that the Jews had no advantage, just because some have not believed.

continued in next post

 

[Genesis315]

continuing St. Thomas’s commentary:

923.But they are beloved by God for the sake of their forefathers as regards election, because He chose their descendants on account of their forefathers’ grace: “The Lord loved your fathers and chose their descendants after them” (Dt 10:15). This does not means that the merits established by the fathers were the cause of the eternal election of the descendants, but that God from all eternity chose the fathers and the sons in such a way that the children would obtain salvation on account of the fathers; not as though the merits of the fathers were sufficient for the salvation of the sons, but through an outpouring of divine grace and mercy, the sons would be saved on account of the promises made to the fathers.

924.Then when he says, For the gifts, he excludes an objection. For someone might claim that even though the Jews were formerly beloved on account of their forefathers, nevertheless the hostility they exert against the gospel prevents them from being saved in the future. But the Apostle asserts that this is false, saying: The gifts and call of God are irrevocable, i.e., without repentance. As if to say: That God gives something to certain ones or call certain ones is without repentance, because God does not change His mind: "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind” (Ps 110:4).

None of this is new or a change. I don’t think some sort of Jewish universalism can be read into the text either, just as neither is every single Christian necessarily saved, but rather he who perseveres to the end in faith and charity (again, see CCC 161). But as St. Thomas notes, the obstinate opposition of some, does not exclude the rest.

The text you cite leaves the question of the salvation of the Jews as “an unfathomable divine mystery”–which lines up with what actual doctrinal texts of the Church say: “in ways known to Himself, God can lead those inculpably ignorant of the Gospel to that faith without which it is impossible to please Him”.

 

[Genesis315]

Just to add one more thing, I dug up what St. Bridget wrote of a vision of Jesus that I referenced earlier. If the overly restrictive view of the texts in question were intended, the following would have been condemned as heresy (this was written between Unam Sanctam and Florence, and re-confirmed as orthodox at the latter):

Now, given that I am so merciful, you might ask why I am not merciful toward pagans and Jews, some of whom, if they were instructed in the true faith, would be ready to lay down their lives for God. My response is that I have mercy on everyone, on pagans as well as Jews, nor is any creature beyond my mercy.

With leniency and mercy I will judge both those people who, learning that their faith is not the true one, fervently long for the true faith, as well as those people who believe the faith they profess to be the best one, because no other faith has ever been preached to them, and who wholeheartedly do what they can. You see, there is a double judgment, namely the one for those to be condemned and the one for those to be saved.

[omitting for space the discussion of those who are condemned like impenitent mortal sinners]

If there was nothing that held them back from seeking the true God and being baptized, neither fear nor the effort required nor loss of goods or privileges, but only some impediment that overcame their human weakness, then I, who saw Cornelius and the centurion while they were still not baptized, know how to give them a higher and more perfect reward in accordance with their faith.

One thing is the ignorance of sinners, another that of those who are pious but impeded. Likewise, too, one thing is the baptism of water, another that of blood, another that of wholehearted desire. God, who knows the hearts of all people, knows how to take all of these circumstances into account.

 

[Orthodox_T]

The way I see it, the only reason Protestants will be saved is because the faith they have (however imperfect it is, being officially separated from Rome) all stems from the Catholic Church and the mission of Peter (through the Pope) to preach the Gospel.

Jesus entrusted the Catholic Church with the mission to spread the Gospel, write the Bible, etc; Protestants have all of these, so in a way, they’re still reaping its benefits, though they’re missing out on a lot of other benefits (the Papacy, 5 out of 7 sacraments, etc.).

 

[AlNg]

None of this is new or a change.

So it is not a change to teach: " it does not in any way follow that the Jews are excluded from God’s salvation because they do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel and the Son of God. "
And Florence teaches exactly the same thing?

 

[stpurl]

No it isn’t.

You weren’t baptised into the Catholic Church, correct? But if you are saved, you will be saved through the Catholic Church. Even if you don’t recognise it, by the fact you are a human being who was created in the image and likeness of God, you are a member of His Church. All humanity, whether they know it or not, are thus members of His Church in that way.

For those who are baptised (non-Catholic Christian) their salvation IF they are saved (we do have to cooperate with salvation) will be through the Church.

For those who are not baptised Christians, such as Jews, Muslims, and others, they will be saved through the Church as even if they have not been baptised with water baptism as Christians, their creation by God has made them common members of the Church, and some how, at the point of death, they will be received IF they are saved through a baptism of desire into the Catholic Church specifically.

The deepening understanding of the teaching then is not the Catholic Church is not simply limited to all those baptised into it, but rather all humanity in some sense.

And baptism into the Church still remains the norm of salvation, but we do not limit God into that only, or else all the righteous who died before Christ and were not baptised would be ‘lost’ simply by that.

 

[Genesis315]

So it is not a change to teach: " it does not in any way follow that the Jews are excluded from God’s salvation because they do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel and the Son of God. "
And Florence teaches exactly the same thing?

Did you read my posts above? You don’t address any of it, so it doesn’t seem like you are arguing in good faith. Given that, I will say this one more time, Florence says “unless they are joined to the Church before the end of their lives.” I have explained how that can come about (for each of the groups mentioned by Florence), I showed a saint’s writings that said the same thing as we now teach from the time between Unam Sanctam and Florence that were judged orthodox at the same Council. I I have explained what the sentence you are bolding means (even though the text itself says "it is not a magisterial document or doctrinal teaching of the Catholic Church” so I could have just left it at that) and how that concept is found in the writings of St. Thomas. You’ve addressed none of it, so it looks like we’re at an impasse.