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>>What an off-the-wall question, meant --- I see --- as a comparison. The Catholic Church does not teach that.<<

Oh really?

“There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved.” (Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215.)

“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, the Bull Unam Sanctam, 1302.)

“The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church.” (Pope Eugene IV, the Bull Cantate Domino, 1441.)

Pope Pelagius II (A.D. 578 – 590): “Consider the fact that whoever has not been in the peace and unity of the Church cannot have the Lord. …Although given over to flames and fires, they burn, or, thrown to wild beasts, they lay down their lives, there will not be (for them) that crown of faith but the punishment of faithlessness. …Such a one can be slain, he cannot be crowned. …[If] slain outside the Church, he cannot attain the rewards of the Church.” (Denzinger 246-247)

Pope Saint Gregory the Great (A.D. 590 – 604): “Now the holy Church universal proclaims that God cannot be truly worshipped saving within herself, asserting that all they that are without her shall never be saved.” (Moralia)

Pope Leo XII (A.D. 1823 – 1829): “We profess that there is no salvation outside the Church. …For the Church is the pillar and ground of the truth. With reference to those words Augustine says: `If any man be outside the Church he will be excluded from the number of sons, and will not have God for Father since he has not the Church for mother.'” (Encyclical, Ubi Primum)

Pope Gregory XVI (A.D. 1831 – 1846): “It is not possible to worship God truly except in Her; all who are outside Her will not be saved.” (Encyclical, Summo Jugiter)

Pope Leo XIII (A.D. 1878 – 1903): “This is our last lesson to you; receive it, engrave it in your minds, all of you: by God’s commandment salvation is to be found nowhere but in the Church.” (Encyclical, Annum Ingressi Sumus)

CB, the Catholic Church considers that everyone who is saved is saved by or through or with a connection to the Catholic Church which Christ founded as the means of salvation for the whole human race. But this is a mystical as well as a visible reality, not entirely reducible to an external, institutional connection.

All of those quotes? They are to be interpreted in the light of three spiritual facts:

We can say who is in the Church, but we cannot say who is not in the Church.
One is only culpable of the mortal sin of being "outside the church" under the usual conditions for any mortal sin:
- sufficient knowledge that what they are doing is wrong and offensive to God
- sufficient freedom of the will, that is, cooperating with evil freely, with full consent and without coercion
The Sacraments are binding on us, but they are not binding on God. In other words, as soon as we are aware that God wills us to enter, and to remain within the Catholic Church, we are morally obliged to do so; but on God's part, He is the Savior and He can do as He wills.

This has always been our implicit belief from the beginning.

We celebrate a liturgical feast day for the Holy Innocents as saints (the babies of Bethlehem who were murdered by Herod's troops) but they were never overtly subjects of the Roman Pontiff: how could they be? There was no Roman Pontiff!
We consider Dismas, the criminal crucified next to Jesus, as saint, but he was never Baptized nor Confirmed, nor did he receive Holy Communion nor was attached to any Christian community. But he was saved because of his adherence to Christ and he received His mercy.
The Holy Angels are all considered Catholic Saints (Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, as well as those names we don't know) but they are not subject to the Pope.

Therefore those quotes from various popes are conditioned by these other facts of Catholic theology which we (should) ALWAYS have in mind, but which you did not have in mind. (Except now you do!)

People who read a string of quotes without a Catholic framework, will not get a Catholic understanding.

If you want a short, clear cut through the philosophical definitions, you should check the Catechism, m'kay?

Or get it from me, I don't mind a bit!

Metmom, I meant to ping you to #21 -- that last one as also for you.

P.S. Everything hose popes said is true, under the understood conditions. I'd venture that most people who aren't visibly, institutionally subjects of the Roman Pontiff are excusable on grounds of ignorance.

I, personally, could not be excused because I know He wants me to use all the graces and blessings of being taught, governed, and sanctified by His Holy Church, and I thank Him for it.

But for those who do not know this, "They know not what they do." And Jesus didn't pray "So, Father, damn them." He prayed "Father, forgive them."

Woke up this fine Sunday morning, went to Church, and then decided I was probably being too obscure, too much the star of "Ask Mrs. Einstein" in #35 and #36 to make a helpful contribution.

So if I may, let me make the same point in 2 simple sentences:

The Popes' statements are true, understood in this sense: that it is grave matter (objectively very very bad) to be separated from the Church. And yet...
this cannot be the kind of sin that results in being eternally lost, if the person did not know, or did not fully consent, to be separated from the Church. Mortal sin is a matter of grave evil done with knowledge and deliberation.

I have sometimes volleyed back and forth with non-believers who dared me, or baited me, to say the Catholic Church would consign them to hell. They seemingly wanted me to say (or "admit") that I (we) consider them damned.

This I won't and can't do, knowing that God ardently wills their salvation, and yours, and mine.

One must trust in Jesus when you perceive Him near, like the thief. Love Him and love our neighbor, as Jesus said: all the Laws and all of the Prophets depend on this. On this, too, depends all the teachings of the Church and all practices of our Faith.

I hope that makes it both cordial and clear?

Now I am going off to enjoy a birthday brownie. Wish I could give you one!