So this is one of those doctrines that evolves? That has developed and become more nuanced?
From the outside this looks like:
"Outside the Church, no salvation."
TWEAK
"Outside the Church, no salvation ^(when 'we are dealing with a medieval polity in which church membership and citizenship are identical.')"
TWEAK
"Outside the Church ^(which means those who have accepted the authority of the Church), no salvation ^(when 'we are dealing with a medieval polity in which church membership and citizenship are identical.')"
TWEAK
"Outside the Church ^(which means those who have accepted the authority of the Church) ^(which means that those who are outside the church, don't know its teachings, and thus are invincibly ignorant, are exempt), no salvation ^)when 'we are dealing with a medieval polity in which church membership and citizenship are identical.')"
TWEAK
"Outside the Church ^(which means those who have accepted the authority of the Church) ^("doesn't formally apply to people born into non-Catholic religions who, through no fault of their own, no nothing about the distinctive Truths of the Catholic Church."), no salvation.
TWEAK
"Outside the Church ^(which "doesn't formally apply to people born into non-Catholic religions who, through no fault of their own, no nothing about the distinctive Truths of the Catholic Church."), no salvation.
TWEAK
"Inside the Church there is salvation for those who accept the authority of the Church; outside the Church there is salvation for "people born into non-Catholic religions who, through no fault of their own, no nothing about the distinctive Truths of the Catholic Church."
TWEAK
"Outside the Church there is salvation for 'people born into non-Catholic religions who, through no fault of their own, no nothing about the distinctive Truths of the Catholic Church.'"
TWEAK
"Outside of the Church there is salvation."
A ==> -A
Why not just say Boniface was wrong? Because you can't.
BigMack
In a word, yes. And we regard that development of doctrine, most recently taught by Vatican II, as no more illegitimate than Nicaea's homoousian or Lateran IV's Transubstantiation definition.
Beyond that and what I've written earlier, I really have nothing further to say on this subject.
Pray for John Paul II