But did the historical church really teach the following? I am shocked, horrified and deeply troubled by these statements- I posted them on another thread trying to get answers.
Many of these statements are in response to heresy and rebellion against the historic church.
**I was taught our salvation was through Jesus! ** Any other gospel was false. Were the Popes speaking from “Peter’s Chair” on thesde?
The foundation of all our confidence is found in the Virgin Mary. God has committed to her the treasury of all good things, in order that everyone may know that
through her are obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation. For this is His will: that
we obtain everything through Mary. Sweet heart of Mary, be my salvation! Pope Pius IX
The two are not contradictory. Mary brought Jesus into the world, that is why we recognize her special role in salvation history. It is the incarnated and crucified Christ who has purchased our salvation by His death on the cross. He chose to accomplish this by coming into the world through Mary. Since He is the fullnes sof every hope, grace, and all salvation, and He came through her to us, she is considered the Ark of the New Covenant.
For, since it is the will of Divine Providence that we should have the God-Man through Mary, there is no other way for us to receive Christ except from her hands. Pope Pius X
Those hands that held him to her breast, changed his diapers, taught him to walk, and cleaned his skinned knees. What a great privilege for her! Just as the Magi worshipped Him as she held him, so we continue to worship Him in her presence today. It does not make her into divinity, it just means that she is not separated from Him.
He will not taste death forever who, in his dying moments, has recourse to the Blessed Virgin Mary. What will it cost you to save us? Has not Jesus placed in your hands all the treasures of His grace and mercy? You sit crowned as Queen at the right hand of your Son: your dominion reaches as far as the heavens, and to you are subject the earth and all creatures dwelling thereon. Your dominion reaches even down into the abyss of Hell, and you alone O Mary, save us from the hands of Satan. Pope Pius XI
This is a prayer made by a Christian, for Christians. For those who are already in Christ, the powerful intercessory prayer of Mary is completely effectual. She says as much today as she did to the servants at the wedding “Do whatever He tells you”. The servant who follows this instruction is, indeed saved by it.
Nothing comes to us except through the mediation of Mary, for such is the will of God. O Virgin Most Holy, no one abounds in the knowledge of God except through thee; no one O Mother of God, attains salvation except through thee! Every one of the multitudes, therefore, whom the evil of calamitous circumstances has stolen away from Catholic unity, must be born again to Christ by that same Mother whom God has endowed with a never-failing fertility to bring forth a holy people. Pope Leo XIII
Such devotional prayers need to be understood within their historic and cultural context. At the time this was written, a denigration of Mary and her role was taking place.
Mary, not one of thy devout servants has ever perished; may I, too, be saved! Pope Benedict XV
Why do you think Catholics would believe this to be true? Do you realize that no one consecrates themselves to Mary unless they have received her Divine Son, and recognize that, through His Kingship, He has elevated her to the status of a Queen? This is what scripture means when it says He has “raised up the lowly”. The “great things” that Jesus did for His own mother are awesome.
Outside this Church there is no salvation and no remission of sins. Pope Boniface VIII
You will have to explain to me why this would bother you. No one comes to the father but by Christ, and no one is a member of Christ without becoming a member of the Church.
We believe with our hearts and confess with our lips but one Church, not that of heretics, but the Holy Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, outside of which we believe that no one is saved. Pope Innocent III
My only quibble with this statement is that the Catholic Church is not Roman. I think some of the Western Patriarchs suffered from some myopic perspective. I think this was cultural, political, and economic in nature.
He who is separated from the Catholic Church will not have life. He who is separated from the body of the Catholic Church, however praiseworthy his conduct may seem otherwise, will never enjoy eternal life, and the wrath of God remains on him by reason of the crime of which he is guilty in living separated from Christ. All those who are separated from the holy universal Church will not be saved. Pope Gregory XVI
This statement is similar to the one made by Innocent. Do you know what the cultural and religions issues were at the time and place these statements were made?
It must 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. It is a sin to believe that there is salvation outside the Catholic Church! You must indeed see to it that the faithful have fixed firmly in their minds the absolute necessity of the Catholic faith for attaining salvation. Protestantism is the Great Revolt against God. Pope Pius IX
This is consistent with the Apostolic Teaching, as well as the present catechism on salvation. Why do you object to this?
So is Billy Garham actually a Catholic and he doesn’t know it?
Those outside the Church do not possess the Holy Ghost. The Catholic Church alone is the Body of Christ… and if separated from the Body of Christ he is not one of His members, nor is he fed by His Spirit. Pope Paul VI
Yes, all who are members of Christ are members of His One Body, the Church. Outside of this One Body, there is no salvation, because no one comes to the father, but by Him. There is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved. I would say that the vast majority of our separated brethren don’t know that we consider them members of the Catholic Church, outside of which there is no salvation. Obvjously, you are one of them, or you would not be so appalled by these statements.
No one, even if he pours out his blood for the name of Christ, can be saved unless he remains within the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church. Pope Eugene IV
You will find statements from the early fathers that even pre-date the emergence of the Roman (Latin) Rite that say similar things. The Apostles taught that there is only one Church, that it is Catholic, and that outside of it, there is no salvation. There is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved.
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
I think I may have commented on this. Jesus gave the duty to Peter (along with what are called the Petrine gifts) to feed and care for His sheep. He passed this responsbility/office/gift to his successor. The successor of Peter is responsible even for the souls of those who are in rebellion against him.
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. Pope John XXIII
Baptism unites us to Christ, the Head, and through Him, to each other. All who rebel against this place their salvation in danger.
Those who are obstinate toward the authority of the Church and the Roman Pontiff… cannot obtain eternal salvation. Pope Pius IX
Fortunately, the vast majority of our separated brethren accept the majority of the Apostolic doctrine committed to the Church. Most also do not even realize that they under the authority of the successor of Peter, so they are not obstinate. A majority of very good hearted and fervent Christians have never even thought about their relationship to the successor of Peter. If they did, they would not assume they had one.
If and when they become conscious that the successor of Peter has been appointed to feed and care for them and they continue in obstinant defiance, one would have to be concerned about the state of their soul.
Rinnie said in post 1222 if we produce bad fruit it makes us all look bad. Then in post 1230 she says a Catholic obeys everything or else they are protestant. I am actually astonished she would say such a thing. And now I’m also just sitting here wondering if Rinnie means all Catholics, even including some in the hierarchy who have truly produced bad fruit and made us look bad over the centuries, are protestant? I thought they were still Catholic though and I know BG is part of the body of Christ but Rinnie maybe can help us understand. She obviously knows everyone’s fruit and what that makes them. 
Carlan
