Re-read Lumen Gentium.
This part? Where it wraps up the discussion of non-Catholics?
Hence to procure the glory of God and the salvation of all these, the Church, mindful of the Lord's command, "preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16.16) takes zealous care to foster the missions.
If your salvation must be procured by formal action by an outside party, then it is not something you actually possess right now.
Why don't you explain how your view of this squares with Unitatis Redintegratio, which states:
For it is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help towards salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained. It was to the apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, that we believe 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 must (opportet) be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the people of God.
Pio Nono's discussion of "invincible ignorance"
Ignorance excuses from culpability of sin. That's what Bl. Pius IX says in this regard: "God ... will by no means suffer anyone to be punished with eternal torment who has not the guilt of deliberate sin."
But ignorance is not salvific - quite the opposite! Ignorance of things divine is a form of punishment for sins, and it is a cause of many people's loss according to the Popes.
Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: "We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect." (Instit., 27:18) [Pope St. Pius X, Encyclical Acerbo Nimis, 2, 15 April 1905]
Generally, though, I've found that those who cling to Bl. Pius IX's discussion of invincible ignorance as their loophole out of the obvious meaning of the words of this dogma have never actually read much further on what he had to say on this subject. For example:
Teach that just as there is only one God, one Christ, one Holy Spirit, so there is also only one truth which is divinely revealed. There is only one divine faith which is the beginning of salvation for mankind and the basis of all justification, the faith by which the just person lives and without which it is impossible to please God and come to the community of His children (Romans 1; Hebrews 11; Council of Trent, Session 6, Chapter 8). There is only one true, holy, Catholic Church, which is the Apostolic Roman Church. There is only one See founded on Peter by the word of the Lord (St. Cyprian, Epistle 43), outside of which we cannot find either true faith or eternal salvation. He who does not have the Church for a mother cannot have God for a father, and whoever abandons the See of Peter on which the Church is established trusts falsely that he is in the Church (ibid, On the Unity of the Catholic Church). [Bl. Pope Pius IX, Encyclical Singulari Quidem, 17 March 1856][The following are prescribed errors:]
16. Men can, in the cult of any religion, find the way of eternal salvation and attain eternal salvation. - Encyclical Qui pluribus, November 9, 1846.
17. One ought to at least have good hope for the eternal salvation of all those who in no way dwell in the true Church of Christ. - Encyclical Quanto conficiamur moerore, August 10, 1863, etc.
18. Protestantism is simply another form of the same Christian religion, and it is possible to please God just as much as in the Catholic Church. - Encyclical Noscitis et Nobiscum, Decemebr 8, 1849.
The Syllabus of Errors, attached to Encyclical Quanta Cura, 1864
Its also good to read the context of the Encyclical around the very famous invincible ignorance quote, both before and after it.
And here, beloved Sons and Venerable Brothers, We should mention again and censure a very grave error in which some Catholics are unhappily engaged, who believe that men living in error, and separated from the true faith and from Catholic unity, can attain eternal life. Indeed, this is certainly quite contrary to Catholic teaching. ...[invincible ignorance quote here]... The Catholic dogma that no one can be saved outside the Catholic Church is well-known; and also that those who are obstinate toward the authority and definitions of the same Church, and who persistently separate themselves from the unity of the Church, and from the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Peter, to whom "the guardianship of the vine has been entrusted by the Savior," (Council of Chalcedon, Letter to Pope Leo I) cannot obtain eternal salvation. The words of Christ are clear enough: "And if he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican" (Matthew 18:17); "He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that dispeth you, despiseth Me; and he that dispiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me" (Luke 10:16); "He that believeth not shall be condemned" (Mark 16:16); "He that doth not believe, is already judged" (John 3:18); "He that is not with Me, is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth" (Luke 11:23). The Apostle Paul says that such persons are "perverted and self-condemned" (Titus 3:11); the Prince of the Apostles calls the "false prophets ... who shall bring in sects of perdition, and deny the Lord who bought them: bringing upon themselves swift destruction" (2 Peter 2:1).
But, God forbid that the sons of the Catholic Church ever in any way be hostile to those who are not joined with us in the same bonds of faith and love; but rather they should always be zealous to seek them out and aid them, whether poor, or sick, or afflicted with any other burdens, with all the offices of Christian charity; and they should especially endeavor to snatch them from the darkness of error in which they unhappily lie, and lead them back to Catholic truth and to the most loving Mother the Church, who never ceases to stretch out her maternal hands lovingly to them, and to call them back to her bosom so that, established and firm in faith, hope, and charity, and "being fruitful in every good work" (Collosians 1:10), they may attain eternal salvation. [Bl. Pope Pius IX, Encyclical Quanto conficiamur moerore, 10 August 1863]
Bl. Pope Pius IX did not believe that people living apart from the Church were on the right road.
That is not the same thing as saying that only those who profess Catholicism on earth can be saved.
That is what we confess in the Athanasian Creed though, isn't it? "Whosoever will be saved, before all things, it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which Faith except everyone keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly."
In fact, Fr. Feeney said that his ordinary was a heretic for not believing that it was the same thing, and was disciplined by the Holy Office under Pope Pius XII for saying that.
Fr. Feeney and Co. got themselves into trouble over the denial of Baptism of Desire, the defined dogma whereby someone who believes in the Catholic Faith, but has the misfortune of being unable to be baptized prior to dying, can still be saved. Invincible ignorance and the baptism of desire are rather contradictory though. If one is ignorant of the faith or hostile to it, he can hardly have a sort of implicit baptism of desire (unless we all wish to be Rahnerites), as one cannot desire what one does not know or that to which one is opposed. The Letter from the Holy Office states this explicitly:
Nor can an implicit desire produce its effect, unless a person has supernatural faith: "For he who comes to God must believe that God exists and is a rewarder of those who seek Him" (Heb. 11:6). The Council of Trent declares (Session VI, chap. 8): "Faith is the beginning of man’s salvation, the foundation and root of all justification, without which it is impossible to please God and attain to the fellowship of His children."
Mama mia. That’s some kind of spicy posting! Thanks!
If your salvation must be procured by formal action by an outside party, then it is not something you actually possess right now.
It's not the case that, for anyone on earth, their "salvation is something they actually possess right now", so your objection is a red herring. The contrary position was condemned by Trent.
Address this:
It follows that the separated Churches(23) and Communities as such, though we believe them to be deficient in some respects, have been by no means deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation which derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Church. -- Unitatis Redintegratio, section 3, paragraph 4
Ignorance excuses from culpability of sin. That's what Bl. Pius IX says in this regard: "God ... will by no means suffer anyone to be punished with eternal torment who has not the guilt of deliberate sin."
If you're "excused from culpability of sin," by definition, in justice, you are excused from the punishment of that sin. If hell is the punishment for the sins of schism and heresy, and you're excused from that punishment as a result of invincible ignorance, then you go to heaven.
[The following are prescribed errors:]
None of which I have embraced.
Indeed, this is certainly quite contrary to Catholic teaching. ...[invincible ignorance quote here]... The Catholic dogma that no one can be saved outside the Catholic Church is
You're ellipsizing exactly the part of the citation that supports my case. Why on earth do you suppose he discusses invincible ignorance in that context anyway?
Fr. Feeney and Co. got themselves into trouble over the denial of Baptism of Desire, the defined dogma whereby someone who believes in the Catholic Faith, but has the misfortune of being unable to be baptized prior to dying, can still be saved.
That is baptism of explicit desire. There is also baptism of implicit desire, as the catechism makes clear:
1260 ... Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicity if they had known its necessity.
How can it be any clearer than this? Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma (a classic pre-Vatican II compendium of dogmatic theology), page 312, on the necessity of the church for salvation:
The necessity of belonging to the Church is not merely a necessity of precept, but a necessity of means ... The necessity of means is, however, not an absolute necessity, but a hypothetical one. In special circumstances, namely, in the case of invincible ignorance or of incapability, actual membership of the Church can be replaced by the desire (votum) for the same. This need not be expressly (explicite) present, but can also be included in the moral readiness faithfully to fulfill the word of God (votum implicitum). In this manner also those who are in fact outside the Catholic Church can achieve salvation.
Again, how can it be made any clearer?
And, one more time, is Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict XVI, the Pope of Rome at the present time?