They’re just making this up as they go along.
The Catechism’s explanation is difficult to harmonize with very specific statements by past popes, which were often referred to by the phrase : “Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus” (”Outside the Church there is no salvation”). According to the Saint Benedict Center, this doctrine of the Catholic Faith “...was taught By Jesus Christ to His Apostles, preached by the Fathers, defined by popes and councils and piously believed by the faithful in every age of the Church.” 13
Pope Innocent III: “There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved.” Fourth Lateran Council, 1215.
Pope Boniface VIII: “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.” From his Bull Unam Sanctam, 1302.
Pope Eugene IV: “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.” From his Bull Cantate Domino, 1441.)