|
By Mike Malone.
A) We must mention another fruitful cause of evil by which the Church is afflicted at present, namely: Indifferentism, that vicious manner of thinking which holds that eternal salvation can be obtained by the profession of any faith, provided that a man's morals are good and decent. Seriously consider the testimony of the Savior that some are against Christ because they are not with Christ, that they scatter who do not gather with Him, and therefore without doubt they will perish in eternity unless they hold to the Catholic Faith and observe it WHOLE and INVIOLATE. (Pope Gregory XVI, "Mirari Vos," August 15,1832) B) If anyone says that the condition of the Faithful and that of those who have not yet come to the true Faith is equal: let him be anathema. (Ecumenical Council of Vatican I, Canon 6: "On Faith") C) Neither the true Faith nor eternal salvation is to be found outside the Holy Catholic Church. It is a SIN to believe that there is salvation outside the Catholic Church. (Ven. Pope Pius IX, Singulari Quidem, March 17, 1856; cf. also OUR GLORIOUS POPES, Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Cambridge, MA: 1955, p.168) D) There is no salvation outside the Church. Who denies this? And therefore whatever things OF the Church are had OUTSIDE the Church do not avail unto salvation. (St. Augustine, "On Baptism, Against the Donatists," Book IV:24) E) Right Reason: Can elements of salvation save anyone, or don't you have to meet the full requirements as commanded by the Voice of God, the Catholic Church? Can parts of truth suffice for the fullness of the Catholic Faith, or is all of it demanded of us, as the Church infallibly teaches? Moreover, did Jesus constitute and organize His Church on earth as a society or not, rather, as a Body -- His own ongoing Body on earth? The latter has been defined; here, Vatican II expressly contradicts it.
A) It was to the Apostolic College alone, of which St. Peter is the head, 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 who belong in ANY way to the People of God MUST be FULLY incorporated. (Vatican Council II, "Unitatis Redintegratio," the Decree on Ecumenism, November 21, 1964) B) It is an error in a matter of divine truth to imagine the Church as invisible, by which many Christian communities, although they differ from each other in their faith, are united by a bond that is invisible to the senses. (Pope Pius XII, "Mystici Corporis," June 29, 1943) C) There is but one universal Church of the Faithful, outside which no one at all can be saved. (Pope Innocent III at Ecumenical Council of Lateran Council IV, 1215) D) Faith in Christ cannot be maintained pure and unalloyed when it is not protected and supported by Faith in the Church. Faith in Christ and Faith in the Church stand together. If any man does not enter the Church, or if any man departs from her, he is far from the hope of life and salvation.(Pope Pius XI, "Mit Brenneder Sorge," March 14, 1937) E) Heretics and schismatics are excluded from the Church because they have separated from her and belong to her only as deserters belong to the army from which they have deserted. (Catechism of Trent, Articles IX, Part I) F) Right Reason: To claim that the unity of the Catholic Church promotes only a universal peace which She merely prefigures is to declare that such peace was not established in her from the beginning, and indeed that she has not yet been able to find it herself. This contradicts the Mark of the Church which recognizes her as Catholic, namely Universal and completely whole. To argue that there is more than one way to belong to the true Church is to destroy another Mark of the Church, namely that which makes her One, that is: her unicity.
A) It does not suffice to believe. He who believes and is not yet baptized, but is only a Catechumen, has not yet fully acquired salvation. (St. Thomas Aquinas, "Catena Aurea") B) Now, even the Catechumen believes in the Cross of the Lord Jesus, but unless he be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, he cannot receive remission of his sins nor the gift of spiritual grace. (St. Ambrose, "De Mysteriis," Ch.4:20) C) Without the Sacrament of Baptism, no one is ever justified. If anyone says that Baptism is optional, that is, not necessary for salvation: let him be anathema. (Ecumenical Council of Trent, "Decree on Justification,"Chap.VII; Canon V on the Sacrament of Baptism) D) Neither commemoration nor chanting is to be employed for catechumens who have died without Baptism. (Council of Braga, 563 A.D.) E) Right Reason: It is impossible to be joined by our intention to the Church just as it is impossible to have Electricity By Desire without actually plugging the cord into the socket. And no Catechumen can be embraced as her own by a Church which ushers them out of Mass before the Offertory, as is even now done in the Novus Ordo around the world in a ceremony called Dismissal of Catechumens. Point: if they are joined already and embraced as our own, why are they not allowed to stay? The formulators of Vatican II have self-destructed here.
A) Do not work together with unbelievers. (II Corinthians 6:14) B) "She is a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up" (Canticles 4:12). These words of Holy Scripture are applied to the Catholic Church; they distinguish her from infidel or heretical sects, so that men will know whom to follow and whom to avoid in their search for eternal life. (Pope Leo XIII, "Hortus Conclusus," December 15, 1981) C) Thus, the Church forbids the Faithful to communicate with those unbelievers who have forsaken the Faith by corrupting it such as heretics, or by renouncing it such as those who become apostates. (St. Thomas Aquinas, "Summa Theologica") D) Whoever is separated from the Church musts be avoided and fled from; one must fly from them lest, by joining in their evil course and thus taking the wrong road, one should become involved in the same guilt oneself! (St. Cyprian, "Unity of the Church") E) Right Reason: Is it the real scandal that a division exists between Catholics and other so-called Christians, or is it not in the fact that the others refuse to join the Church Jesus founded? We cannot assist them in their missionary activities without helping to spread their errors and leading souls to Hell!
A) The Catholic Church alone is the Body of Christ, of which He is Head and Savior. We must always remember the unity of the Mystical Body outside which there is no salvation; for their is no entering into salvation outside the Church. Truth, grace, the Sacraments: all the certain norms for our journey to God come from the Church. The Catholic Church is the extension of Jesus Christ in time and space. Outside this Body the Holy Spirit does not give life to anyone. Those who are enemies of unity do not participate in the charity of divine life; those outside the Church do not possess the Holy Spirit. A Christian must fear nothing so much as to be separated from the Body of Christ. If he is separated from Christ's Body, he is not one of His members; he is not fed by His Spirit. (Pope Paul VI, General Audiences of May 15 and June 12, 1974) B) If those unwilling to be at agreement in the Church be slain outside the Church, they cannot attain to the rewards of the Church. (Pope Pelagius II, "Dilectionis Vestrae," 585) C) No one, even if he pour out his blood for the name of Christ, can be saved unless he remain within the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church. (Pope Eugene IV in "Cantata Domino" at the Ecumenical Council of Florence, February 4, 1442) D) Right Reason. The Holy Spirit cannot recognize as members of the same Body those who differ in Faith, sacraments, or submission to spiritual authority, for He cannot deny Himself (II Tim.2:13). The Holy Spirit cannot sanctify with the same Grace souls both inside and outside the Body of Jesus Christ. Some are claimed to have shed their blood for Jesus, but this cannot be said to have come from the strength of the Spirit of Truth, since it is their so-called right to promote error which they are defending. If they truly loved Jesus enough to die for Him, they would have been keeping His commandments (Jn 14:23), one of which is to be a member of His Church and receive Him in Holy Communion.
A) The Holy Catholic Church teaches that God cannot truly be adored except within its fold. (Pope St. Gregory the Great, "Moralia," XIV:5) B) Wherefore, not at all equal is the condition of those who have adhered to Catholic truth and of those who, led by human opinions, follow a false religion. (Ven. Pope Pius IX at Ecumenical Council of Vatican I,"Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith," Ch.3). C) Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is anti-God. (Pope John Paul II, General Audience, 1985) D) Mohammed was a disciple of the devil, and his followers are in a state of perdition. (St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori in his "Victories of the Martyrs") E) Whoever does not embrace the Catholic Christian religion will be damned, as was your false prophet Mohammed. (St. Peter Mavimenus, The Roman Martyrology for February 21) F) You Mohammedans are in a state of everlasting damnation. (Bl. NicholasTavilich, "National Catholic Register," 1974) G) Right Reason. No one can adore together with us a God they do not believe in (the Trinity). We cannot adore together with them a deity we do not believe in (one who permits four wives, as does the Koran). No man can worship the one true God together with us if they do not share our one true Faith by which all true worship is defined. Islam teaches that Jesus is not God and that there is only one person in God; hence, they do not believe in the same God we worship. Thus, they can in no way adore with us our God. A man cannot worship in any way that which he does not believe in, for the Law of Praying is the Law of Believing, and vice-versa. If Mohammedans believe in a one-person deity, THAT is what they worship, and in no way can we logically argue that they worship with us the Holy Trinity.
A) I confess that the Lord will give over by a very just judgment to the punishment of eternal and inextinguishable fire the wicked who either did not know by way of the Lord or, knowing it, left it when seized by various transgressions, in order that they may burn without end. (Pope Pelagius I, "Humani Generis," April 1, 557 A.D.) B) The saving grace of this religion, the only true religion, through which alone true salvation is truly promised, has never been refused to anyone who was worthy of it; and whoever did lack it was unworthy of it. Consequently, those who have not heard the Gospel, and those who, having heard it have not persevered; and those who, having heard it, have refused to come to Christ; that is, to believe in Him; ALL these have perished in death: they all go in a single lump to condemnation. (St. Augustine, "Admonition and Grace," VII:12) C) It is error to believe that there is a natural justice whereby eternal life is promised for good works without any further qualification. (Pope St. Pius V, "Ex Omnibus Affictionibus," October 1, 1567) D) Acts which spring from natural goodness have only the appearance of virtue; they cannot last of themselves nor can they merit salvation.(Pope St. Pius X, "Editae Saepe," May 26, 1910) E) He who is separated from the Body of the Catholic Church, however praiseworthy his conduct may seem otherwise, will never enjoy eternal life. (Pope Gregory XIV, "Summo Jugiter," May 27, 1832) F) For this is eternal life: that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou has sent. (John 17:3). G) Right Reason: This error presupposes that a man of good will can go clear to his death without finding the truth. This is contradicted by so many Councils and Popes and Scriptures they cannot here be catalogued, and fly in the face of God's mercy and justice (I Tim. 2:4). This error places man's conscience over God's will, and makes God Himself unknowable. This error asserts that God will give His grace to help a man lead a good life, but will not give it to help such a man find Him in His one true Church, outside which even the best of lives end up in Hell.
A) Belief in God alone seems necessary by a necessity of means, not, however, explicit Faith in a Rewarder. CONDEMNED ERROR. (Pope *Benedict* XIV, "Sollicita et Provide," July 9, 1753) B) It would seem that man is not bound to believe anything explicitly, for no man is bound to do what is not in his power. On the contrary, it is written He who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that he is a Rewarder to those who seek Him (Heb.11:6). Therefore, as regards the primary points or articles of Faith, man is bound to believe them just *as* she is bound to have the Faith. Both learned men and simple men are bound to EXPLICIT Faith in the mysteries of Christ, chiefly those publicly proclaimed and observed throughout the whole Church. (St. Thomas Aquinas, "Summa Theologica") C) The ruin of souls is wrought by this single cause: Ignorance of those most sublime truths, so far beyond the natural understanding of the multitude, which nonetheless must be known by all men in order that they may attain eternal salvation. We positively maintain that the will of man cannot be upright, nor his conduct good, while his intellect is the slave of crass ignorance. This We solemnly affirm: the majority of those who are condemned to eternal punishment fall into this everlasting misfortune through ignorance of the mysteries of the Faith which must necessarily be known and believed by all who belong to the Elect. (Pope St. Pius X,"Acta," Vatican Press, 1904) D) Whoever is separated from the Catholic Church, however praiseworthy his life may be in his own opinion, he shall for this very reason -- that he is at the same time separated fro the unity of Christ -- NOT see life; rather the wrath of God abideth on him. In the Catholic Church there are both good and bad, but those who are separated from her cannot be good. For, though the speech of some of them appears commendable, nevertheless their very separation from the Church makes them bad according to Our Savior: He who is not with Me is against Me (Matthew 12:30). (St. Augustine, Epistle 141:5) E) Right Reason: It is illogical to suggest that God in His Divine Providence will not deny the assistance necessary to be saved to those who lack the explicit knowledge of the one, true Faith while simultaneously denying them the assistance of this very knowledge. That Vatican II here explicitly does so suggest is irrefutable. BUT: the fact is, if this (and No.6) were accurately translated from the Latin (and I for one have never seen this done by any editor or translator), it might actually be acceptable: Here is the correct translation, provided by Latin scholars: "Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or of 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 -- they, too MAY achieve eternal salvation. Nor SHALL divine providence deny the assistance necessary for salvation to those who, without fault of their own, have NOT YET arrived at an explicit knowledge of god and who, not without grace, strive to lead a good life. Whatever of good or truth is found among them is considered by the Church to be a PREPARATION for the Gospel, given by Him Who enlightens all men so that they may AT LENGTH have life."The Latin Subjunctive Mood is explicit here, denoting uncertainty, doubt, future condition, and indefinite potentiality. The words that God shall not deny such men grace as a "preparation" for the Faith, so that, finally "at length" they may have life, etc., clearly indicate a future possibility, not a current actuality. If, then, the phrase they "may"have life is taken in its obvious future sense, no Catholic need question it at all. *Interestingly*, Lumen Gentium #16 ends by repeating the infallible stipulation: "As many as believe and are baptized shall be saved; and as many as believe not will be condemned" (Abbot, p.35; Flannery p.368).
A) You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Ghost. As your fathers behaved, so do you also. Which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted? And they have slain them who foretold the coming of the Just One, of Whom you have now been the betrayers and murderers. (Acts 7:51-52) B) The Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and have persecuted us, do not please God, and are enemies to all men; prohibiting us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they might be saved; to fill up their sin always: for the wrath of God has come upon them to the end. (I Thess.2:14-16) C) Poor Jews! You invoked a dreadful curse upon your own heads in saying: His blood be on us AND ON OUR CHILDREN! (Mt.27:25); and that curse you carry upon your till this day, you miserable race, and to the end of time shall you endure the chastisement of that innocent Blood. (St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori, from "The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ") D) The Lord made Cain a wanderer and fugitive over the earth, but set a mark upon him, lest anyone finding him might slay him. Thus the Jews, against whom the blood of Christ calls out, although they ought not be killed, nevertheless as wanderers they must remain upon the earth until their faces be filled with shame and they seek the name of Jesus Christ the Lord. (Pope Innocent III, "Epistle to the Count of Nevers," 1208) E) The Jews wander over the entire earth, their backs bent and their eyes cast downward, forever calling to our minds the curse they carry with them. (St. Augustine, "Against the Jews") F) Right Reason: The Council's statement is an illogical construction of what is called in logic "A Straw Man" (or "Dodging the Issue") in that no one would ever consider all Jews indiscriminately guilty of the death of Jesus. His Mother was a Jew, as were all His first Apostles and disciples. There are also many Jews alive today who are devout Catholics, and there always have been since the Passion. Thus, the statement is erroneous in its face.
A) Ungrateful for favors and forgetful of benefits, the Jews return insult for kindness and impious contempt for goodness granted. They ought to know the yoke of perpetual enslavement because of their guilt. See to it that the perfidious Jews never in the future grow insolent, but that in servile fear they always suffer publicly the shame of their sin.(Pope Gregory IX, "Epistle to the Hierarchy of Germany," 1233) B) The crucifiers of Christ ought to be held in continual subjection.(Pope Innocent III, "Epistle to the Hierarchy of France," July 15, 1205) C) It would be licit, according to custom, to hold the Jews in perpetual servitude because of their crime. (St. Thomas Aquinas, "De Regimine Judaeorum") D) Right Reason: The Church is the pillar and ground of truth according to Scripture; hence her official display of anti-Semitism is not only worthwhile, good, and truthful, but necessary for a wholesome society. Meanwhile, one can logically hate the errors of the diabolical Jewish religion without necessarily hating (wishing Hellfire) for all Jews. My mother is a Jew named Mary, my dearest friend is a Jew named Jesus, and my Pope is a direct descendant of a Jew named Peter.
A) Let the Gospel be preached to the Jews, and if they remain obstinate, let them be expelled. (Pope Leo VII, Pontifical Register, vol.1:3597) B) If anyone does NOT condemn those who hold opinions similar to heretics and who have remained in their godlessness up till death: Let such a one be anathema. (Ecumenical Council of Constantinople II, 553 A.D.) C) Those who have been detected, even by slight proof, to have deviated from the doctrine of the Catholic religion ought to fall under the classification of heretic and under the sentences operating against heretics. (Pope Innocent IV, "Registers of Innocent IV," Berger, Paris:1881) D) We decree that those who give credence to the teaching of heretics, as well as those who defend or patronize them, are excommunicated. If anyone refuses to avoid such accomplices after THEY have been ostracized by the Church, let them ALSO be excommunicated [let me interject here that this decree would reduce the Church back to that little flock Jesus speaks of]. For the defense of the Faith, secular authorities, whatever office they hold, ought to exterminate all heretics to the best of their ability. Whenever anyone assumes authority, whether spiritual or temporal, let him be bound to confirm this decree by oath. (Ecumenical Council of Lateran IV) E) Right Reason: The prophet Elias murdered 850 priests of the Canaanite god, Baal, for preaching their false religion to the faithful (III Kings 18:40). The Popes infallibly granted indulgences to those who took up the cross in the crusades, a series of glorious military excursions to retake the Holy Land from the Mohammedans (1096 to 1270), and eagerly joined by many canonized saints who manifestly repudiated the heretical notion that infidels were not to be discriminated against. Saint Thomas argues that the first mark of wisdom is the capacity to discriminate between right and wrong, good and evil. Not to discriminate against false religions is the height of the heresy called Indifferentism (or Americanism in the USA).These heresies have been condemned infallibly over and over again by our Sovereign Pontiffs. Therefore, Vatican II is likewise condemned in this truly illogical statement.
A) Since it is recognized that it is extremely rare to find men entirely devoid of religious sense, some people entertain the hope that nations, in spite of their differing religious viewpoints, may be brought to unite as brothers in the profession of certain doctrines as a common foundation of the spiritual life. Certainly, such efforts as these cannot receive the approval of Catholics, for they rest on the false opinion which regards any religion whatsoever to be more-or-less praiseworthy and good. Those who hold this opinion are in grave error; they even debase the concept of the true religion and lapse, little by little, into naturalism and atheism. (Pope Pius XI, "Mortalium Animos," January 6, 1928) B) That Protestantism is nothing other than a different form of the same true Christian religion, in which it is permitted to please God equally as in the Catholic Church. CONDEMNED ERROR . (Venerable Pope Pius IX,"Syllabus of Modern Errors," December 8, 1864) C) Christ is one and His Church is one; one is the Faith, and one the people cemented together into the strong unity of a Body. That unity cannot be split nor cut up into fragments. Nothing that is separated from the parent stock can ever live or breathe apart - ALL hope of its salvation is lost. If a person calls himself a Christian, the Devil too often calls himself Christ -- and is a liar! Just as the Devil is not Christ, so likewise a man cannot be taken as a Christian if he does not abide in Christ's Gospel and in the true Faith. (St. Cyprian, "Unity of the Church") D) Children baptized in other communions cease to be members of the Church when, after reaching the age of reason, they make formal profession of heresy; as, for example, by receiving communion in anon-Catholic church. (St. Augustine, "Sermon No.8," Migne's Patrologia, vol.46, column 838) E) Right Reason: To claim we are not able to charge with the sin of separation those at present born into non-Catholic communities is once again the Illogic of A Straw Man, a rhetorical Dodge. It is synechdotal irrationality, attempting to force a judgment of adult heretics onto that of new-borns, innocent of personal heresy. As St. Augustine points out, such newly-born souls are guilty of no sin at all, except the Original(and then only if unbaptized) until such time as they reach the use of reason and commit their first sin. Saint Cyprian sufficiently and rationally destroys the error of Vatican II about full communion in the Church of heretics, their possibility of imperfect communion, and alleged possession of the Faith.
A) Who is to be called a Christian? He who confesses the doctrine of Jesus Christ IN HIS CHURCH Hence, he who is truly a Christian thoroughly detests all cults and sects found OUTSIDE the doctrine and OUTSIDE the Church of Christ, everywhere and among all peoples, as for example the Jewish, the Mohammedan, and the heretical cults and sects. (St. Peter Canisius, Doctor of the Church, "The Catholic Catechism," by St. Peter, Question no.1) B) Christianity is incarnate in the Catholic Church; it is IDENTIFIED with that perfect and spiritual society which has the Roman Pontiff for its visible head. (Pope Leo XIII, "Annum Ingressi Sumus," March 15, 1902) C) 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, Council of Rome, the Bull "Unam Sanctam,"1302) D) No one is our brother unless he has the same Father we do. (St. Jerome, Father and Doctor of the Church, "Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew") E) In NO way can men be counted among the children of God unless they take the Church for their Mother. (Pope Leo XIII, "Satis Cognitum," June 29, 1896) F) Right Reason: To declare " Christian all who have been justified by Faith in Baptism" is egregiously to Beg The Question, a serious error in Logic. For as St. Thomas and theologians in general (and Trent specifically and infallibly) state: NO one who rejects an iota of the Faith can be justified into the State of Grace). And no one can be in the Mystical Body of Christ without actual reception of the Sacrament of (Water) Baptism, as Pius XII points out in his Encyclical of the same name. Hence, only those who are validly are incorporated into Christ and therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers by the children of the Catholic Church IF they likewise possess the Habit of True Faith -- for the simple reason that they meet the minimum ontological requirements of being Catholic. An infant, for example, cannot be baptized a Protestant, for he protests absolutely nothing as yet. All infants validly baptized outside the Church are genuinely Catholic until such time (God forbid) that they grow up to reject a specific teaching of the Church or, as St. Augustine says, make a formal act in a non-Catholic sect such as participating in their liturgies.
A) As Christ is the head of the Church, so is the Holy Ghost her soul. ONLY those are really to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and who profess the true Faith and who have not unhappily withdrawn from the Body or, for grave reasons, been excluded by legitimate authority. It follows that those who are divided in Faith Or in government cannot be living in one Body such as this, and cannot believing the life of its one Divine Spirit. (Pius XII, "Mystici Corporis,"June 29, 1943) B) Outside this Body, the Holy Spirit gives life to NO ONE; those outside the Church do not possess the Holy Spirit. The Catholic Church alone is the Body of Christ, and if a man be separated from the Body of Christ he is not one of His members nor is he fed by His Spirit. (Pope Paul VI, General Audience, June 12, 1974) C) If a member be cut off ... his life is lost. The Spirit does not follow the amputated member ... Outside the Church you can find everything except salvation: you can have dignities, Sacraments, the Gospels, the Faith - and preach it, too! - but never can you find salvation except in the Catholic Church. (St. Augustine, "The Holy Spirit: Soul of the Church," Book IV, Sermon 267; Sermon VI "To the People of Caesarea," Part I- II) D) Right Reason: Pope Pius XII's rebuttal above suffices. It is said today that Protestants have degenerated into more than 20,000 differing sects. The solitary thing they do not differ on is their mutual rejection of the Roman Catholic Church.
A) By means of religious Indifferentism, crafty men deceitfully pretend that people can attain eternal salvation in the practice of any religion, as though there could be any fellowship of light with darkness. These men conclude that not only sons of the Church but also others, however estranged they may remain from Catholic unity, are equally on the road to salvation and are able to achieve everlasting life. Words fail Us form utter HORROR in detesting and abhorring this new and terrible insult! (Ven. Pope Pius IX, "Ubi Primum," December 17, 1847) B) The Church alone has the legitimate worship of sacrifice and the salutary use of the Sacraments. Hence, to possess true holiness, we must belong to her and embrace her, like those who entered the Ark to escape perishing in the Flood. (Catechism of Trent, Article IX: "Marks of the Church") C) The Holy Catholic Church teaches that God cannot be adored except within her fold; she affirms that all those who are separated from her will not be saved. (Pope St. Gregory the Great, "Moralia," XIV:5) D) No one is as far from the Pasch of the Lord as heretics. They can have no part with Him who are enemies of this saving Mystery. For they deny the Gospel and contradict the Creed, and they cannot celebrate the Paschal Feast with us. And though they dare to claim the name of Christian, nevertheless every creature whose Head is Christ scorns them. (Pope St. Leo the Great, cf. "Sermon on the Passion") E) Right Reason: Scripture assures us that "Satan transforms himself into a minister of light, therefore it is no great thing if his ministers be transformed as ministers of justice" (II Corinthians 11:14-15); however, neither he nor his Protestant clergymen are true Christians nor in the way of salvation just because they also carry out certain liturgical actions of the Christian religion. To argue this way is to Beg The Question.
A) No one must either pray nor sing psalms with heretics, and whosoever shall communicate with those who are cut off from the communion of the Church, whether clergy or layman: Let him be excommunicated. (Council of Carthage III, 397 A.D.) B) It is excessively blameworthy to take part in the religious ceremonies of Protestants. (Pope Pius IV, "Ecclesiastical Annals," Venerable Cardinal Caesar Baronius) C) If any clergyman or layman shall go into the synagogue of the Jews or to the meetings of heretics to join in prayer with them, let them be deposed and deprived of Communion. (Pope St. Agatho the Wonder worker at the Sixth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople III, 681 A.D.) D) The Catholic Church prays that all who have left the Holy Roman Church may abjure their errors and return in grace to her fold, outside which there is no salvation. But that Christians should pray for Christian unity under the direction of heretics is absolutely impossible to tolerate. (Ven. Pope Pius IX, "To All the English Bishops," September 16,1864) E) Is it permitted for Catholics to be present at, or take part in, conventions, gatherings, meetings, or societies of non-Catholics which aim to associate together under a single agreement all who in any way lay claim to the name of Christian? In the negative! It is clear, therefore, why this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics. There is only one way in which the unity of Christians may be fostered, and that is by furthering the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from her. (Pope Pius XI, "Mortalium Animos," January 6, 1928) F) Right Reason: This error of the Council is an immediate derivation from their error that non-Catholics such as Mohammedans and Protestants worship the same God we do. That prayer with them is forbidden proves that we do not, for one cannot worship by prayer that which he does not truly believe in. The God of Protestants, for example, permits birth control and abortion; for us to pray along with them to this god is logically blasphemy. Of course, for Catholics pastors to join Ministerial Unions of Protestant ministers; for military or hospital chaplains to join in prayer with non-Catholics; for Catholic Charismatics to join in prayer with non-Catholic Charismatics; all these are grievous offenses against the One True God and against the Mark of Unicity of His One True Church.
A) No one shall pray in common with heretics or schismatics. (Council of Laodicea, 364 A.D.) B) God will have the Holy Spirit only in those who worship Him in perfect Faith. (St. Cyril of Alexandria, "On the True Faith") C) Heretics worship a God who is a liar, and a Christ who is a liar. (St. Augustine, "Against Faustus the Manichean," Book IV) D) Outside the unity of Faith and Love which makes us sons and members of the Church, no one can be saved; hence, if the Sacraments are received outside the Church, they are NOT effective for salvation even though they are true Sacraments. However, they can become useful if one returns to Holy Mother the Church, whose sons ALONE Christ considers worthy of eternal inheritance. (St. Bonaventure, "Breviloquium," Book VI, chapter 5, no.4) E) Right Reason: Again, we would be worshiping by prayer a god who allows rejection of the Pope. This is an irrational form of blasphemy.
A) If anyone says that a man who is justified, and however perfect he might be, is not bound to observe the Commandments of God AND OF HIS CHURCH, but only to believe, as though the Gospel were a bare and absolute promise of eternal life without the condition of observing the Commandments: let him be anathema. (Ecumenical Council of Trent, Canon 20"On Justification") B) Bear well in mind that, as the Fathers of the Church teach in numerous passages, the sense of Holy Scripture can be found nowhere incorrupt outside the Catholic Church. (Pope Leo XIII, "Providentissiumus Deus,"Part V) C) Take away the authority of the Church and neither Divine Revelation nor natural reason itself is of any use, for each of them may be interpreted by every individual according to his own caprice. From this accursed liberty of conscience has arisen the immense variety of heretical and atheistic sects. If you take away obedience to the Church, there is NO error which will not be embraced. (St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori, "Explanation of the Council of Trent," chapter 16, no.29) D) There can be nothing more dangerous than those heretics who admit nearly the entire cycle of Catholic doctrine and yet, BY A SINGLE WARD, as with a DROP of poison, infect the real and simple Faith taught by Our Lord and handed down by Apostolic Tradition. For such is the nature of the Faith that nothing can be more absurd than to accept SOME things and to reject OTHERS. If, then, it be certain that ANY thing is revealed by God, and this is not believed, then NO thing whatever is believed by divine Faith. But he who dissents even in ONE POINT from divinely-revealed Truth ABSOLUTELY rejects ALL Faith. You, who believe what you like of the Gospels, believe yourselves rather than the Gospels.(Pope Leo XIII, "Satis Cognitum," June 29, 1896) E) Right Reason: Since no non-Catholic has the true Faith, the Gospel cannot logically be deemed "the power of God for their salvation"(Romans 1:16). If they truly were diligent in its study, they would seethe necessity of membership in the Catholic Church (Acts 2:47, Matthew16:18, etc., etc.); then, if they genuinely had a love and reverence for the Author of the Gospels, every last one would yield to His grace and come into that Church to save their immortal souls. The Council here Begs The Question of their Faith and love, thus erring against Logic, Right-reason, and human experience.
A) If anyone says that baptized persons are freed from all the Precepts of Holy Church, either those contained in Scripture or handed down by Tradition, so that they are not bound to observe them unless of their own accord they wish to submit themselves to these Precepts: Let him be anathema. (Ecumenical Council of Trent, "On the Sacrament of Baptism,"Canon 8) B) Do not all those who are baptized belong to the Church? Yes, but membership in the Church requires conditions OTHER than Baptism alone: it requires IDENTICAL Faith and UNITY of communion. (Pope Paul VI, General Audience, May 15, 1974) C) Besides a desire to be baptized, Faith is also necessary to obtain the grace of the Sacrament. Our Lord said: He who BELIEVES and is baptized shall be saved (Mark 16:16). (Catechism of Trent, "The Sacrament of Baptism: Dispositions for Baptism") D) The Church is one, unified, and articulated after the manner of a physical body. Therefore, whosoever is not joined to the Body is NOT a member of it ,and is NOT in union with Christ its Head. (Pope Pius XI, "On True Religious Unity," January 6, 1928) E) The Church gives us to understand that some people can receive Baptism outside her, but that NO one can either receive or possess salvation outside her; for, outside the Church there is no remission of sins. (St. Augustine, "On Baptism, Against the Donatists," Book IV, chapter 1, part1) F) A person would be deceiving himself by the fact that he had been re-born of water. The branch that has been cut from the vine resembles any other branch, but what does it [outward] form avail if it does not live off the root? (Pope Gregory XVI, "Mirari Vos," August15,1832) G) Whether in the Catholic Church or in any heretical or schismatical church, if anyone receives the Sacrament of Baptism, he receives it intact; but he will not have salvation if he received that Sacrament outside the Catholic Church. Eternal life can never in any way be obtained by one who, with the Sacrament of Baptism, remains a stranger to the Catholic Church. Hold most firmly, and do not doubt at all, that the Sacrament of Baptism can exist among heretics, but that outside the Catholic Church it cannot be of profit. For the unity of this ecclesiastical society is of such value for salvation that he is not saved by Baptism to whom it has not been administered where it ought to have been. Hold most firmly, and do not doubt at all, that everyone baptized outside the Catholic Church cannot be made a partaker of eternal life is before the end of this earthly life he does not return to the Catholic Church and become incorporated with it. (St. Fulgentius, "On Faith, to Peter," 43) H) Right Reason: It is interesting that "Unitatis Redintegratio" does not here allow for Baptism of Desire any where nor in any way. For they here expressly stipulate "the Sacrament of Baptism, whenever it is properly conferred in the way the Lord determined." And as for the proper disposition of soul, no one can possess such while in the act of being baptized into a non-Catholic religion, unless that person has not achieved the use of reason. My own grandmother was baptized a Methodist and, thirty minutes later, dropped dead. I dare not argue for her chances of having escaped an eternity in Hell-fire. The Freemason Voltaire, on the other hand, who had once been baptized and professed the Catholic Faith, died screaming for a priest (for hours and hours), which his Masonic companions adamantly refused him. Like St. John Bosco, however, I agree that Voltaire could have saved his soul.
A) It is impossible to understand the Divine Word outside the Church.(St. Hilary of Poitiers, "Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew," XIII:1) B) Neither the true Faith nor eternal salvation is to be found outside the Holy Catholic Church. (Ven. Pope Pius IX, "Singulari Quidem," March17, 1856) C) He who does not embrace the teaching of the Church does not have the Habit of Faith. Neither formed nor formless Faith remains in a heretic who disbelieves ONE SINGLE article of Faith. All who deny one article of Faith, regardless of their reason, are by that very fact excommunicated.(St. Thomas Aquinas, "Summa Theologica") D) He who does not believe according to the Tradition of the Catholic Church is an unbeliever. (St. John Damascene, cf. "On Faith, Against the Nestorians,") E) A man cannot be taken for a Christian who does not abide in Christ's Gospel and in the true Faith. (St. Cyprian, "Epistle 52," part 1) F) Right Reason: Jesus said: I am THE way, therefore there cannot be a Christian way of life nourished by heresy or by the denial of a single article of the Faith taught by Our Lord and Savior. There can be no grace of Baptism for any soul who receives Baptism while at the same moment denying any single article of Faith. How can non-Catholics be nourished by Faith in Christ when the Christ they believe in allows birth control, abortion, divorce and remarriage, and repudiates the privileges of His Blessed Mother? How can anyone claim Faith in Christ while denying that His Mother was immaculately conceived and assumed into Heaven, and thus worthy of our incessant prayers? It is utterly irrational and inherently heretical for Vatican II to presume that they can.
A) That it is right for each individual to follow with tranquil soul what is acceptable to his own religious creed makes the divine establishment of the Church of no consequence. The true Church of Jesus Christ was established by divine authority and is known by a four- fold Mark which must be believed. No other Church is Catholic except the one founded on Peter and on his successors in the Chair of Rome. Especially fatal to the salvation of souls is that erroneous opinion of "liberty of conscience"and "liberty of worship" as the proper right of every man. By Our Apostolic authority, we reject, proscribe, and condemn this evil opinion. (Ven. Pope Pius IX, "Qui Pluribus," November 9, 1846) B) Liberty of worship is based on the principle that every man is free to profess any religion he may choose, or none at all. Such a liberty is not liberty but its degradation and the abject submission of the soul to sin.(Pope Leo XIII, "Libertas Praestantissimum," June 20, 1888) C) It is insanity to believe that liberty of conscience and liberty of worship are the inalienable rights of every citizen. From this stinking fountain of Indifferentism flows the erroneous and absurd opinion, or rather derangement, that liberty of conscience must be asserted and vindicated for everyone. This most pestilential error opens the door to the complete and immoderate liberty of opinions which works such widespread harm both in Church and State. (Pope Gregory XVI, "Mirari Vos," August 15,1832) D) Right Reason: If my conscience reigns supreme, and if my religion teaches me that it is a positive right to commit murder (as various pagan religions do, teaching their adherents cannibalism, head-hunting, etc.),does that make help me "come to God"? Or should I be physically prevented from acting according to this private conscience and this perverse religious belief by the local police department?
A) If these heretics are permitted to teach as they choose equally with those who hold the right doctrine, and if they are permitted to teach as they like and to promulgate their adopted dogmas in public, is it not clear that the doctrine of the Church is thereby condemned? (St. Gregory Nazianzen, "Oration" no.46) B) The accursed perversity of heretics has so increased that now they exercise their wickedness not in secret but manifest their error publicly, and win over the simple and weak to their opinion. For this reason, We resolve to cast them, their defenders, and their receivers under anathema, and We forbid under anathema that anyone presume to help heretics or to do business with them. (Ecumenical Council of Lateran III,1179) C) That no one form of worship is to be preferred to another, but that all must stand on equal footing is opposed to the Virtue of Religion. Therefore, justice forbids and reason itself forbids treating alike the various so-called religions. (Pope Leo XIII, "Libertas Praestantissimus,"June 20, 1888) D) Right Reason: Cannibals should not be allowed to preach on street corners, no matter how "religious" they are. Axe-murderers and child pornographers should never be granted asylum. Heretics should be burned at the stake. Ask yourself this: If it is permissible for a man to murder his mother as part of a sacrosanct religious ceremony in bearing witness to his most firmly held belief-system, what must I do if that man is my brother? Honor his right to kill Mom, or defend Mom to the bitter death?
A) In this age of ours, it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion be the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other cults whatsoever. In certain regions of Catholic name, it has been praiseworthily sanctioned by law that men immigrating there be allowed to have public exercises of any form of worship of their own. CONDEMNED ERRORS. For it is false that the civil liberty of every cult, and likewise the full power granted to all men of manifestly openly and publicly any kind of opinions and ideas, more easily leads to the corruption of morals and minds of men, and to the spread of the evil of Indifferentism. (Venerable Pope Pius IX, "Syllabus of Modern Errors,"December 8, 1864) B) The power of Christ over all nations has begun to be denied; hence, the right of the Church to teach the human race, to pass laws, and to rule for the purpose of leading people especially to eternal salvation, which exists from the very right of Christ, has been denied. Then, indeed, little by little, religion of Christ was placed on the same level with false religions, and put in the same class most shamefully; it was then subjected to the civil power and almost given over to the authority of rulers and magistrates. We call this plague of our age Laicism, with its errors and nefarious effects. (Pope Pius XI, "Quas Primas," December11, 1925) C) We know that we are of God, and that all the world around us is seated in wickedness. (John I, 5:19) D) Right Reason: First, note that the State is granted leave to possess a "constitutional organization" rather than the traditional monarchical establishment. This curve-ball is an important ingredient of Freemasonry. The effort to limit mankind to a democratic form of government on the part of Vatican II is an insidious example of Begging The Question. But the most grievous error is to place the true Faith and Worship on the same level with cannibals and (much worse) Protestants. To argue for equal treatment before the law is to make false worship equal to the one true religion, Devil-all Freemasons.
A) That the Church does not have the power of using force is hereby CONDEMNED as ERROR. (Pope Pius IX, Syllabus of Modern Errors, Section V,no.24) B) I pray to God that some of us, as high as we seem to sit, treading heretics under our feet like ants, live not to see the day that we would gladly wish to be at league and composed with them; to let them have their churches quietly to themselves so that they would be content to let us have ours quietly to ourselves. I entirely detest heretics and, as Magistrate, do promise assiduously to perform my duty in . Heresy is a kind of treason, and if a heretic persisteth in his false belief, he may be handed over to be burned. (St. Thomas More, "Life and Writings of Sir Thomas More) C) That it is against the will of the Spirit to burn heretics at the stake is condemned as false. (Pope Leo X, "Exsurge Domino," 1520) D) Even if my own father were a heretic, I would gather the wood to burn him at the stake. (Pope Paul IV, JAMES LAYNEZ, JESUIT, Fr. Joseph Fichter, SJ, St. Louis: B. Herder, 1944, p.179) E) The only way to argue with a blasphemer is by running your sword through his bowels, as far as it will go. (St. Louis, King of France, cf. "The Life of St. Louis," John of Joinville, NY: Sheed & Ward,1955) F) Right Reason: No man can physically be forced to become Catholic, but all men should be forcibly restrained from attacking the Faith in any fashion, way, shape, or form. Otherwise, it logically follows that either the Faith is not true, or that Truth is not worth fighting for. That greatest of prophets of the Old Law, St. Elias, gave us perhaps the greatest object lesson in this when he did not hesitate to order the killing of 850 ministers of a false religion (III Kings 18:40). How's THAT for Ecumenism?
A) By the fact that freedom of all forms of worship is proclaimed, truth is confused with error, and the Holy and Immaculate Spouse of Christ, outside which there is no salvation, is placed on the same level with heretical sects and even with Jewish perfidy. (Pope Pius VII, "Post TamDiuturnas," 1814) B) That every man is free to embrace and to profess that religion which he, led by the light of reason, thinks to be the true religion is hereby CONDEMNED as ERROR. (Ven. Pope Pius IX, "Syllabus of Modern Errors,"December 8, 1864) C) What more deadly evil could there be for a soul than freedom to be in error? (Pope Leo XIII, "Pontificis Maximi Acta," Rome: Vatican Press,1905) D) If a person wants to save his soul, all he has to do is examine his conscience against the everlasting teachings of the Church. Outside this true Catholic Faith, no one can be saved, SO HELP ME GOD! (Pope John XXIII, Allocution at St. Paul's Basilica, January25, 1959; also the Tridentine Profession of Faith made by every Pope for the past 400 years) E) Right Reason: Anyone who cannot see that this error of Vatican Council II is DIAMETRICALLY opposed to (B above), the error formally and officially condemned as such by Venerable Pope Pius IX, must simply be considered of bad will and worse judgment. Saint Paul wrote to Timothy: "God wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth" --and the ONLY thing on this earth which can frustrate the will of God to bring a man to the truth of the Catholic Faith is that man's own bad will.
A) When the Church condemns errors, she cannot exact any internal assent from the faithful. CONDEMNED ERROR (Pope St. Pius X, "Lamentabili,"no.7). B) What could be worse than freedom for error? (St. Augustine, Epistle166, PL33:400) C) With great seriousness of purpose, Our predecessor Gregory XVI struck at those teachings which were even then being preached: that no preference should be shown in divine worship, that individuals are free to form their judgments about religion as they prefer, that one's conscience alone is his guide and, furthermore, that it is lawful for everyone to publish what he thinks. (Pope Leo XIII, Immortale Dei) D) It is necessary that all men obey the power of Christ ... He would be basely mistaken who would deprive Christ-the-man of power over all civil affairs, since He has received the most absolute right over created things, so that all have been placed under His authority. Nor in this matter is there any difference among individuals and domestic and civic groups, because men united in society are no less under the power of Christ. (Pope Pius XI, "Quas Primas," December 11, 1925) E) Clearly, His power is not only over Catholic peoples ... but it embraces even those who are reckoned as destitute of Christian Faith, so that in all truth all mankind is under the power of Jesus Christ. (Pope Leo XIII, Annum Sacrum) F) It is quite unlawful to demand, defend, or grant unconditional freedom of thought, speech, writing, or worship, as though these were so many rights given man by nature; for, if nature had really granted them, it would be lawful to refuse obedience to God and there would be no restraint on human liberty. (Pope Leo XIII, Libertas Humana) G) For us, God is the first and true measure of all things, much more than any man can be. The Church brings to this concept the fullness and depth of its truth when it declares and teaches, consequently, that our mutual relations within the great human family must depend on the principle that every right has its root in God. (Pope Pius XII "Addressto Juridical Congress," July, 1950) H) Man's true rights take their origin precisely from his duties towards God. Human rights, then, are only a counterpart of the duties which the creature has to his Creator. (Pope Leo XIII, 1892 Encyclical) I) Right Reason: We hear a great deal today about the rights of man, the rights of minorities, the rights of the handicapped, the rights of homosexuals, even animal rights. But, technically speaking, no man has any rights at all which do not come from God Himself. If your freedom to worship phoney gods in false religions is to be cared for and insured by the Church, then God is necessarily being asked to give honor to Satan. There can be no rights at all where there are not first duties, upon which all further rights are ineluctably incumbent. It cannot therefore be a violation of the will of God that false rights to false religions be physically and morally suppressed by Church and State. No human creature has any right whatsoever to be a heretic any more than he has a right to be a Hottentot or a homosexual. No one possesses such rights, just as they have no duty from God to follow witchcraft or practice cannibalism. None of these perversions is a right given by Almighty God from Whom all rights derive, nor do they correspond to our duties owed to Him as our Creator. A necessary conclusion to this is that no human being has the right to be in error on any single, solitary point, even though that may well be where he finds himself at any given moment. All rights flow from God, and He cannot give us the right to believe error and still be the God of truth Who can neither deceive nor be deceived. No man, therefore, has the right to believe heresy or to doubt truth. He has, of course, the freedom, because of his free will, to be as erroneous and sinful as he cares to be, but these are not rights. Error has no rights any more than does sin itself. Michael Malone  Copyright (c) 1997-1999 Ecclesia Militans All Rights Reserved Updated: March 19, 1999 Built with Web Development Kit
|