What the CHURCH teaches

Some points to ponder:


Magisterial Teachings on the Necessity
of the Catholic Faith for Salvation
Ex Cathedra Pronouncements by Pope Eugene IV from the Council of Florence, "Cantate Domino," 1441:

"The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the Church before the end of their lives . . . "

"The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the Church before the end of their lives; that the unity of this ecclesiastical body is of such importance that only for those who abide in it do the Church’s sacraments contribute to salvation and do fasts, almsgiving and other works of piety and practices of the Christian militia produce eternal rewards; and that nobody can be saved, no matter how much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church."

Unam Sanctam, Nov. 18, 1302:

"With Faith urging us we are forced to believe and to hold the one, holy, Catholic Church and that, Apostolic, and we firmly believe and simply confess this Church outside of which there is no salvation nor remission of sin, the Spouse in the Canticle proclaiming: 'One is my dove,my perfect one.'"

Pope Boniface VIII

Ubi Primum (# 14), May 5, 1824:

"It is impossible for the most true God, who is Truth itself, the best, the wisest Provider, and the Rewarder of good men, to approve all sects who profess false teachings which are often inconsistent with one another and contradictory, and to confer eternal salvation on their members . . . by divine faith we hold one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism . . . This is why we profess that there is no salvation outside the Church."

Pope Leo XII

Satis Cognitum (# 9), June 29, 1896:

"The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont to hold as outside Catholic communion, and alien to the Church, whoever would in the least degree from any point of doctrine proposed by her authoritative Magisterium."

Pope Leo XIII

Epistle (1), Quod ad dilectionem, 585:

"If anyone, however, either suggests or believes or presumes to teach contrary to this faith, let him know that he is condemned and also anathematized according to the opinion of the same Fathers."

Pope Pelagius II

Council of Ephesus, 431:

" . . . remember that the followers of every heresy extract from inspired scripture the occasion of their error, and that all heretics corrupt the true expressions of the holy Spirit with their own evil minds and they draw down on their heads an inextinguishable flame."

Pope St. Celestine I

Let us pray for our separated brethren, even those within our walls, for their conversion.