First
we should note that the Church was never blessed with a Supreme
Pontiff who proclaimed and defended the defined dogma, Extra
Ecclesiam Nulla Salus, more
often or more vigorously than Pius IX. We also remind our readers
that he was a very brave and holy pope; he has been declared
"Venerable", and his cause for beatification is being
promoted at this very time.
Pius
IX reigned as Holy Roman Pontiff for thirty-two years (1846 to 1878),
longer than any other Vicar of Christ except Saint Peter. In certain
statements he made in official — though not infallible —
pronouncements during his Pontificate, he seemed, to some liberals,
to excuse the invincibly ignorant from the necessity of membership in
the Catholic Church for salvation. His three most quoted statements
follow:
. . . those who are
affected by ignorance of the true religion, if it is invincible
ignorance, are not subject to any guilt in this matter before the
eyes of the Lord.
*
An Allocution is a solemn form of address, delivered by the pope from
the throne, to cardinals in secret consistory.
Singulari
Quidem (March 17, 1856), an Encyclical to the Austrian
Episcopate:
. . . the Catholic Church . . . is the temple of God,
outside of which, except with the excuse of invincible ignorance,
there is no hope of life or salvation.
Quanto
Conficiamur Moerore (August 10, 1863), an Encyclical to the
Italian Episcopate:
. . . they who labor in invincible ignorance of our most
holy religion and who . . . live an honest and upright life, can, by
the operating power of divine light and grace, attain eternal life,
since God . . . will by no means suffer anyone to be punished with
eternal torment who has not the guilt of deliberate sin.
Liberals have
never tired of using these utterances by Pio Nono to "prove"
their claim that he supported the then-mounting opinion that
"invincible ignorance" was an effective substitute for both
Faith and Baptism as requirements for salvation.
Taken by
themselves and out of the body of the complete text, as liberals and
modernists are wont to do, these statements do seem to verify that
claim. As a matter of fact, even "in context" their true
meaning is not quickly and easily perceived, as we shall now see in
the following passages. First, we will look at Singulari Quadam:
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 are affected by ignorance of the true religion, if it
is invincible ignorance, are not subject to any guilt in this matter
before the eyes of the Lord.
Now, then, who could presume in himself an ability to
set the boundaries of such ignorance, taking into consideration the
natural differences of peoples, lands, native talents, and so many
other factors? Only when we have been released from the bonds of this
body and see God just as He is (1 John 3:2) shall we really
understand how close and beautiful a bond joins divine mercy with
divine justice. But as long as we dwell on earth, encumbered with
this soul-dulling, mortal body, let us tenaciously cling to the
Catholic doctrine that there is one God, one faith, one baptism (Eph.
4:5); To proceed with further inquiry is contrary to divine law.*
*
The Latin text uses the noun nefas,
which means something contrary to divine law, sinful, unlawful,
abominable; an impious or wicked deed.
At this point,
liberals and modernists usually end the quote, claiming that, since
Pope Pius IX himself taught the Pelagian doctrine of salvation by
invincible ignorance, the dogma Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus
was no longer tenable. But they deliberately and dishonestly ignore
the words of the Holy Father that followed immediately:
Nevertheless, as charity demands, let us pray
continually for the conversion to Christ of all nations everywhere.
Let us devote ourselves to the salvation of all men as far as we can,
for the hand of the Lord is not shortened (Isa. 59:1). The gifts of
heavenly grace will assuredly not be denied to those who sincerely
want and pray for refreshment by the divine light.
These truths need to be fixed deeply in the minds of the
faithful so that they cannot be infected with doctrines tending to
foster the religious indifferentism which We see spreading widely,
with growing strength, and with destructive effect upon souls.
There is no
break with the Tradition of the Church in these words of Pius IX. Nor
is there a denial of the dogma on salvation. In his essay, "On
Exonerating Pelagius" (see our issue of Res Fidei dated
November, 1991), Brother Thomas Mary Sennott explains:
The teaching here is exactly the same as that of Saint
Thomas Aquinas. Pope Pius says that persons "affected by
ignorance of the true religion, if it is invincible ignorance, are
not subject to any guilt in this matter," the "matter"
being the sin of unbelief; or as Saint Thomas puts it, "When
such unbelievers are damned, it is on account of other sins, which
cannot be taken away without faith, but not because of unbelief."
But concerning a person of good will involved in
invincible ignorance, Pius says, "the gifts of heavenly grace
will assuredly not be denied to those who sincerely want and pray for
refreshment by the divine light;" or as Saint Thomas states, "it
pertains to Divine Providence to furnish everyone with what is
necessary for salvation, provided that on his part there is no
hindrance." There is complete continuity of Tradition then, in
the teaching of Saint Thomas and of Pope Pius IX.
And, we might
add, there is also complete continuity of Tradition in the teaching
of Father Feeney that God will provide the waters of Baptism to
anyone and everyone who truly desires them. With Pope Pius, we "cling
to the Catholic doctrine that there is one God, one faith, one
Baptism," because "to proceed with further inquiry is
contrary to divine law." Is it not "further inquiry"
to speculate about substitutes for Baptism?
Now we turn to
Singulari Quidem:
The Church declares openly that all man’s hope, all
his salvation, is in Christian faith, in that faith which teaches the
truth, dissipates by its divine light the darkness of human
ignorance, works through charity; that it is at the same time in the
Catholic Church, who, because she keeps the true worship, is the
inviolable sanctuary of faith itself and the temple of God, outside
of which, except with the excuse of invincible ignorance, there is no
hope of life or of salvation.
In this
Encyclical to the Bishops of Austria, Pio Nono offers no
qualifications to the phrase "except with the excuse of
invincible ignorance," as he did in Singulari Quadam
fifteen months earlier, and as he will do in Quanto Conficiamur
Moerore seven and one-half years later. We may certainly assume
that this was not an intended omission by the Holy Father. And we
remind the reader again that there was no engagement here of his
grace of infallibility.
Here is the
third, and last of these texts, Quanto Conficiamur Moerore:
And here, beloved Sons and Venerable Brothers, We should
mention again and censure a very grave error in which some Catholics
are unhappily engaged, who believe that men living in error, and
separated from the true faith and from Catholic unity, can attain
eternal life.
Indeed, this is certainly quite contrary to Catholic
teaching.
It is known to Us and to you that they who labor in
invincible ignorance of our most holy religion and who, zealously
keeping the natural law and its precepts engraved in the hearts of
all by God, and being ready to obey God, live an honest and upright
life, can, by the operating power of divine light and grace, attain
eternal life, since God Who clearly beholds, searches, and knows the
minds, souls, thoughts, and habits of all men, because of His great
goodness and mercy, will by no means suffer anyone to be punished
with eternal torment who has not the guilt of deliberate sin.
But, the Catholic dogma that no one can be saved outside
the Catholic Church is well-known; and also that those who are
obstinate toward the authority and definitions of the same Church,
and who persistently separate themselves from the unity of the
Church, and from the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, to whom
"the guardianship of the vine has been entrusted by the Savior,"
cannot obtain eternal salvation.
There are four
sentences in this passage from Pope Pius IX’s famous encyclical.
Let us analyze each one of them:
In the first
sentence, the Holy Father states that he must censure "a very
grave error" into which some Catholics have fallen, which is to
believe that "men living in error, and separated from the true
Faith and from Catholic unity, can attain eternal life." This
sentence clearly explains that anyone who holds a doctrine contrary
to Catholic doctrine, or who does not embrace the Catholic Faith and
Catholic unity, is not going to achieve salvation.
In sentence two,
he repeats, for emphasis, that any position contrary to what he
stated in the first sentence is extremely erroneous.
However, it
would seem from the first sentence that a person seeking salvation
would have to know of the Catholic Faith and the Church, and would
have to accept them without qualification. This appears to be a hard
saying because many persons seem to be in a condition of "invincible
ignorance," having never even heard of the Catholic Faith. So
the Pope immediately addresses this matter of invincible ignorance in
sentence three.
He describes the
case of a good-living but invincibly ignorant person. He says that
this person can reach eternal life "by the operating power of
divine light and grace." But, since he has just stated
emphatically, in the first sentence, that nobody can attain eternal
life while "separated from the true Faith and from Catholic
unity," the phrase, "by the operating power of divine light
and grace," necessarily means that God will not fail to provide
such a person of good will with what he needs in order to end this
separation. Included in what God will provide in order for that
person to be welcomed into the true Faith and Catholic unity, where
alone he "can attain eternal life," will certainly be the
sacrament of Baptism. This is exactly what God miraculously provided
for Cornelius the Centurion, for the Eunuch of Candace, and for Saul
of Tarsus, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.
The Holy Father
then points to God’s justice and mercy to explain why He helps such
worthy, though invincibly ignorant, persons. He states that God "will
by no means suffer anyone to be punished with eternal torment
who has not the guilt of deliberate sin." (our emphasis)
Note that the
Pope did not say that God would not punish with eternal punishment
anyone "who has not the guilt of deliberate sin." Pius IX
did not say this because he knew, as does every Catholic, that the
loss of the Beatific Vision suffered by an unbaptized infant is,
indeed, eternal punishment for a little baby who never committed a
deliberate sin. An infant who dies unbaptized does suffer eternal
punishment (the loss of the Beatific Vision), but not eternal torment
(pain of the senses due to deliberate sin). Why God decrees this is
known only to Him, but that He does decree it is part of Catholic
truth.
To conclude from
the third sentence that Pope Pius IX believed that an invincibly
ignorant person can receive what is necessary for salvation without
being incorporated into the Church by the actual reception of the
sacrament of Baptism, is to misrepresent totally what he actually
stated. And, as noted, such a conclusion also ignores his strict
condemnation in the first sentence of those "who believe that
men living in error, and separated from the true Faith and from
Catholic unity, can attain eternal life."
Finally, in the
last sentence, the Holy Father reaffirms that those who are aware of
the Church and her well known doctrine on salvation, yet stubbornly
reject her authority and refuse to enter into her unity, simply
cannot obtain eternal salvation.
