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The
NEGATION of one of the most important
and clearest dogmas
A
Quasi-Rediscovery
The Declaration Dominus
Jesus operates with an entirely new concept of ecclesial
"communion." It is a concept without center or
principle, and it lacks a foundation in the Papacy, and
hence it lacks unity of faith and government. Applying this
new concept, Dominus Jesus defines the status, i.e.,
the relationship vis-à-vis the Church, of the
Protestant sects:
On the other hand,
the ecclesial communities which have not preserved the
valid Episcopate and the genuine and integral substance
of the Eucharistic mystery [Unitatis Redintegratio,
§22], are not Churches in the proper sense; however,
those who are baptized in these communities are, by Baptism,
incorporated in Christ and thus are in a certain communion,
albeit imperfect, with the Church [ibid., §3].
Baptism in fact tends per se toward the full development
of life in Christ, through the integral profession of
faith, the Eucharist, and full communion in the Church
[ibid., §22] (§17).
We should note that
the expression here is simply "Church," not "Catholic
Church" which the document used two sentences earlier
in the same paragraph section (§17). This gives rise to
the same grave doubts we mentioned earlier: Is this "Church,"
to which the Declaration refers, the Catholic Church? At
all events, something has been rediscovered, namely, the
distinction (obscured by ecumenism) between sects and individuals,
a distinction which applies not only to Protestants, as
the Declaration intends, but also the "Orthodox."
The Church, in fact, has always taught that the communities
separated from the unity of faith and/or government are
not the Church, nor are they parts of the Church. Individuals,
by contrast, are incorporated into the Church by baptism
(which properly
belongs to the Catholic Church), provided it is administered
validly. It is appropriate to note here that, as far as
Dominus Jesus is concerned, all the Protestant sects
without exception baptize validly. These individuals, however,
separate themselves from the Catholic Church when they personally
adhere to the heresy and/or schism of the sect in which
they were baptized. When, as a result of doctrinal, historical
and practical incoherences of their sect, such individuals
discover a doubt in their hearts as to whether they are
in the true Church, they are bound to take steps to inform
themselves correctly. It is only those who, through invincible
ignorance (which is not the same thing as culpable ignorance
or negligence in a matter of such importance for salvation)
remain in good faith in a heretical and/or schismatic
sect, who remain part of Christ's flock in virtue of their
valid baptism. Nonetheless they are "sheep scattered
abroad by disunion," as Pope St. Pius X called them,
speaking-be it noted-of Eastern schismatics (Ex quo,
non labente); "wandering sheep, whom the Shepherd
knows not," as Pope Pius XII called them, of whom we
can only say that there are "other sheep which are
not of this fold... and that they need to be brought to
the divine Shepherd so that there may be one flock and one
Shepherd" (Sommamente Gradita, Sept. 20, 1942).
Dominus Jesus,
however, draws no distinctions. It does "rediscover"
the distinction between communities and individuals, but
it tells us that all the baptized in the "ecclesial
communities" which "are not Churches in the proper
sense" (only because they lack valid episcopate and
Eucharist) are "in a certain communion, albeit imperfect,
with the Church" solely in virtue of baptism which
is assumed to be always valid.
"One
of the Most Important and Clearest Dogmas" of the Faith
As we have seen,
Dominus Jesus thus manages to deny "one of the
most important and clearest dogmas" of the Faith, as
Pope Gregory XVI lamented in opposing the Modernists who,
even in his time, were daring to attack this dogma "with
unprecendented audacity" in their attempts to promote
"mixed marriages":
You know as well
as We do how constantly our Fathers made every effort
to inculcate that article of faith which the Modernists
dare to deny, namely, the necessity of the faith and Catholic
unity for salvation (Summo Jugiter Studio).
Contrary to what
Dominus Jesus would have us believe, it is not simply
the lack of a "valid episcopate" and a "valid
Eucharist" which causes the sheep living outside the
one fold to be "wandering astray." In fact, even
those who have a valid episcopate and a valid Eucharist
are astray. It is the lack of "the faith and Catholic
unity," which are indispensable "for salvation."
That is why Pope Pius X, speaking not to Protestants, but
to Eastern schismatics, looked forward to a time when "the
sheep that are scattered by dissension will come together
in the one profession of the Catholic faith, under a single
supreme Pastor" (Letter Ex quo, Dec. 26, 1910).
The
"Vain Hope" of Baptism Alone
Baptism alone does
not profit for salvation, no more than the valid episcopate
alone or the valid Eucharist alone. As the Athanasian Creed
says:
Whosoever will
be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold
the Catholic Faith. Which Faith except every one do keep
whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly....
Pope Gregory XVI
repeated it in Mirari Vos:
The Apostle warns
us: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." Let them
tremble then who imagine that every creed leads by an easy
path to the port of felicity; and reflect seriously...that
consequently they will perish eternally without any doubt,
if they do not hold to the Catholic Faith, and preserve
it entire and without alteration.
And since this is
impossible outside Catholic unity, "those who are not
united to the Chair of Peter are in error in flattering
themselves that they too are regenerated in the water of
salvation." St. Augustine would reply to them in the
same terms: "The branch lopped off has the shape of
the vine; but what avails the form if it have not the root?"
(Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos; cf. also Pope Leo
XIII, Eximia Laetitia).
Today the baptized
who are not united to the Chair of Peter are confirmed in
their vain hope by "ecumenical" Catholics. The
latter, whose love is not so much for souls, as for the
fantasy of a "union" made by man and not by God,
find the transparent language of truth too hard; by the
same token they also find the Holy See's language of charity
too hard (up to and including Pope Pius XII): "The
one fold of Christ is the Church founded on Peter, Prince
of the Apostles"; outside this one fold there can only
be "wandering sheep, unknown to the Shepherd, limbs
who are not part of a life-giving body, but separated, arid
and deprived of spiritual nourishment" (Pope Pius XII,
Sommamente Gradita, Sept. 20, 1942).
Hirpinus
(Both articles
translated by Mr. Graham Harrison from Courrier de
Rome, Feb., 2001, exclusively for Angelus Press)
Courtesy of the Angelus
Press, Kansas City, MO 64109
translated from the Italian
Fr. Du Chalard
Via Madonna degli Angeli, 14
Italia 00049 Velletri (Roma)
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