- Cantate Domino--“The holy Roman Church believes, professes, and preaches that no one remaining outside the Catholic Church, not just pagans, but also Jews or heretics or schismatics, can become partakers of eternal life; but they will go to the ‘everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels’ (Matt. 25:41), unless before the end of life they are joined to the Church. For the union with the body of the Church is of such importance that the sacraments of the Church are helpful to salvation only for those remaining in it; and fasts, almsgiving, other works of piety, and the exercise of Christian warfare bear eternal rewards for them alone. And no one can be saved, no matter how much alms he has given, even if he sheds his blood for the name of Christ, unless he abide(1) in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.(2) [SOURCE]
The “Catholic Replies” column, apparently took their usual latitudinarian interpretation, of the above dogmatic statement, that piece, which we have not seen, brought a response from Father Brian Harrison, O.S., S.T.D, a learned pontifical university theologian.
In an unusual editorial mood of generosity, The Wanderer excerpted parts of Father Harrison’s letter, and placed it as an “editor’s note” in the greater part of the column-inches usually reserved for James Drummey’s “Catholic Replies” .
We commend The Wanderer for printing so much of Father Harrison’s excellent response:
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Historically, it really isn’t credible to suggest that Catholic bishops and the Pope in 1442 thought that everyone on earth by that time “had heard and had understood the Gospel message.” Remote parts of northeast Europe were then still being evangelized; educated Catholics knew that down in Africa there were unreached tribes; the previous two centuries had seen both peaceful and warlike contact between Europeans and the Mongols, Chinese, and other large Asian populations whom educated Europeans knew had never been thoroughly — or, in some cases even partly — reached by Catholic missionaries. In other words, the discovery of the New World 50 years after the Council didn’t change the European Catholic perspective nearly as much as you (following Sullivan?) claim it did.
Doctrinally, there is no hint at all in the Florentine text that only those “pagans and Jews” who are culpably ignorant of the Gospel will go to hell if they are not “aggregated” or “joined” to the true Church before the moment of death. This is a solemn profession of a doctrine that had been universally taught as perennially true ever since the New Testament times — in other words for century after century, including periods when all Christians knew there were vast quantities of people out there who had not yet heard the Gospel, and so were not culpable in their unbelief.
From St. Paul onward (“How will they believe and be saved if they do not hear? How will they hear without a preacher” — Romans 10:3-4), the constant teaching of the Church, repeated and solemnly confirmed by Florence, had been that everyone needs to hear and believe the Gospel in order to be saved. Whether ignorance of the Gospel on the part of pagans, Jews, or Muslims was vincible or invincible, culpable or inculpable, was understood to be basically irrelevant! For those folks would all be damned anyway, if they didn’t get to believe explicitly in Christ before death!
So it seems that your interpretation of the Florentine dogma, by making it condemn to Hell only those who die culpably outside the Church, basically changes its original meaning — something we are forbidden to do under anathema by Vatican I."
"[From the Constitution:] Hence, too, that meaning of the sacred dogmas is ever to be maintained which has once been declared by holy mother church, and there must never be any abandonment of this sense under the pretext or in the name of a more profound understanding.
[From the Canon:] If anyone says that it is possible that at some time, given the advancement of knowledge, a sense may be assigned to the dogmas propounded by the church which is different from that which the church has understood and understands: let him be anathema." [Source]
We commend The Wanderer for printing so much of Father Harrison’s excellent response.[(1)A question of translating the Latin, "permanserit" has been whether "abide" should be preferred in context over "remain," because of different English connotations in "abide" from "remain."
The connotations in English seems to differ in force from "abide"-- "dwelling as if one belonged" versus "remain"-- "not leaving". "Remain" implies some decision to stay. Abide implies some sense of home that one cannot truly ever leave.
(2) The Latin --Cantate Domino
Firmiter credit, profitetur et praedicat, 'nullos extra catholicam Ecclesiam exsistentes, non solum paganos', sed nec Judaeos aut haereticos atque schismaticos, aeternae vitae fieri posse participes; sed in ignem aeternum ituros, 'qui paratus est diabolo et angelis eius' (Mt 25, 41), nisi ante finem vitae eidem fuerint aggregati: tantumque valere ecclesiastici corporis unitatem, ut solum in ea manentibus ad salutem ecclesiastica sacramenta proficiant, et ieiunia, eleemosynae ac cetera pietatis officia et exercitia militiae christianae praemia aeterna parturiant. 'Neminemque, quantascumque eleemosynas fecerit, etsi pro Christi nomine sanguinem effuderit, posse salvari, nisi in catholicae Ecclesiae gremio et unitate permanserit'
(3) We at Catholic Vox take issue with Fr. Harrison's otherwise very good response here. Cantate Domino is NOT of the infallible ordinary Magisterium. It is contained in the profession of faith in council. This would put it in the extraordinary infallible sphere. A profession of faith, such as the Nicene creed, is what MUST be believed for salvation. Thus to equate it to the ordinary magisterium is to lower its authority and take it out of the "definition" mode of teaching allowing it possible interpretation. As Fr. Harrison points out later in his letter this can not be done with definitions, according to Vatican I. ]
(3) We at Catholic Vox take issue with Fr. Harrison's otherwise very good response here. Cantate Domino is NOT of the infallible ordinary Magisterium. It is contained in the profession of faith in council. This would put it in the extraordinary infallible sphere. A profession of faith, such as the Nicene creed, is what MUST be believed for salvation. Thus to equate it to the ordinary magisterium is to lower its authority and take it out of the "definition" mode of teaching allowing it possible interpretation. As Fr. Harrison points out later in his letter this can not be done with definitions, according to Vatican I. ]
