|
Fallen
Away Catholics |
"Why do
you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' but not do what I command? I will show
you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and
acts on them. That one is like a person building a house, who dug
deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the
river burst against that house but could not shake it because it
had been well built. But the one who listens and does not act is
like a person who built a house on the ground without a
foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once
and was completely destroyed." (Our Lord Jesus Christ, Lk.
6:46-49) "For
it is impossible in the case of those who have once been
enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift and shared in the Holy
Spirit and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age
to come, and then have fallen away, to bring them to repentance
again, since they are recrucifying the Son of God for themselves
and holding him up to contempt. Ground that has absorbed the rain
falling upon it repeatedly and brings forth crops useful to those
for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. But if it
produces thorns and thistles, it is rejected; it will soon be
cursed and finally burned. But we are sure in your regard,
beloved, of better things related to salvation, even though we
speak in this way. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your
work and the love you have demonstrated for his name by having
served and continuing to serve the holy ones. We earnestly desire
each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment
of hope until the end, so that you may not become sluggish, but
imitators of those who, through faith and patience, are inheriting
the promises." (St. Paul, Heb. 6:4-12) "We should not stay away from our assembly,
as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the day drawing near. If we sin deliberately after receiving knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains sacrifice for sins
but a fearful prospect of judgment and a flaming fire that is going to consume the adversaries.
Anyone who rejects the law of Moses is put to death without pity on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Do you not think that a much worse punishment is due the one who has contempt for the Son of God, considers unclean the covenant-blood by which he was consecrated, and insults the spirit of grace? We know the one who said:
'Vengeance is mine; I will repay,' and again: 'The Lord will judge his
people.' It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God. Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a great contest of suffering.
At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and affliction; at other times you associated yourselves with those so treated.
You even joined in the sufferings of those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you had a better and lasting possession.
Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense. You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised.
'For, after just a brief moment, he who is to come shall come; he shall not delay. But my just one shall live by faith, and if he draws back I take no pleasure in
him.'" (St. Paul, Heb. 10:25-38) "For if they, having escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of (our) Lord and savior Jesus Christ, again become entangled and overcome by them, their last condition is worse than their first. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment handed down
to them. What is expressed in the true proverb has happened to them,
'The dog returns to its own vomit,' and 'A bathed sow returns to wallowing in the
mire.'" (2 Pt. 2:20-22) "Most Catholics who fall away from the True
Faith do so gradually. They do not jettison the precepts of the
Church all at once; they usually become progressively lazier in
one area and rationalize their behavior. Once they adequately
justify a particular sin of omission, it is simple for them to
excuse others." (Clowes)
"In almost every case, fallen-away
Catholics begin the process of moral disintegration by questioning
the need for the Sacrament of Confession." (Clowes)
"It is known that
all men of Noah's time perished, except those who merited to be in the
Ark, which was a figure of the Church. Likewise, they cannot now be
saved who will have turned away from the Apostolic Faith and the
Catholic Church." (St. Gaudentius)
"Can. 5. Likewise we believe that we must
hold most firmly that all the multitude of the faithful,
regenerated 'from the water and the Holy Spirit' (John 3:5), and
through this truly incorporated in the Church, and according to
the apostolic doctrine baptized in the death of Christ (Rom. 6:3),
in His blood has been absolved from its sins; that neither for
these could there have been true regeneration unless there were
true redemption; since in the sacraments of the Church there is
nothing false, nothing theatrical, but certainly everything true,
dependent upon truth itself and sincerity. Moreover, from this
very multitude of the faithful and the redeemed some are preserved
in eternal salvation, because through the grace of God they remain
faithfully in their redemption, bearing in their hearts the voice
of their God Himself: 'Who...perseveres even unto the end, he
will be saved' (Matt. 10:22; 24:13); that others, because they
were unwilling to remain in the safety of faith, which in the
beginning they received, and because they choose by wrong teaching
or by a wrong life to make void rather than to preserve the grace
of redemption, came in no way to the fullness of salvation and to
the reception of eternal beatitude. In both certainly we have the
doctrine of the holy Doctor: 'We who are baptized in Christ Jesus,
are baptized in His death' (Rom. 6:3), and: 'All you who are
baptized in Christ have put on Christ' (Gal. 3:27), and again:
'Let us approach with a true heart in fullness of faith, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies
washed with clean water let us hold unwavering the confession of
our hope' (Heb. 10:22), and again: 'For to us sinning willfully
after the accepted knowledge of the truth, there is now left no
sacrifice for sins' (Heb. 10:26), and again: 'He who making void
the law of Moses, dies without mercy with two or three witnesses.
How much more do you think he deserves worse punishments, who has
crushed under foot the son of God, and has considered the blood of
the testament unclean, by which he was sanctified, and has offered
insult to the Spirit of grace?' (Heb. 10:28)." (Council of
Valence III, 855 A.D.) "For
I confess that all men from Adam, even to the consummation of the world,
having been born and having died with Adam himself and his wife, who
were not born of other parents, but were created, the one from the
earth, the other...from the rib of the man (cf. Gen. 2:7, 22), will then rise again and stand before the Judgment seat of Christ,
that every one may receive the proper things of the body, according as
he has done, whether it be good or bad (Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10); and
indeed by the very bountiful grace of God he will present the just, as
vessels of mercy prepared beforehand for glory (Rom. 9:23), with the
rewards of eternal life; namely, they will live without end in the
society of the angels without any fear now of their own fall; the
wicked, however, remaining by choice of their own with vessels of wrath
fit for destruction (Rom. 9:22), who either did not know the way of the
Lord, or knowing it left it when seized by various transgressions, He
will give over by a very just judgment to the punishment of eternal and
inextinguishable fire, that they may burn without end. This, then, is my
faith and hope, which is in me by the gift of the mercy of God, in
defense of which blessed Peter taught (cf. 1 Pet 3:15) that we ought to
be especially ready to answer everyone who asks us for an
accounting." (Pope Pelagius I, 557 A.D.)
"For
since faith is the first foundation of things to be hoped for, and
since, without faith it is 'impossible to please God'; when
once faith is removed, man retains nothing that may be useful for the
obtaining of eternal salvation, for which reason it is written (Proverbs
6:12): 'A man that is an apostate, an unprofitable man':
because faith is the life of the soul, according to Romans 1:17: 'The just man liveth by faith.' Therefore, just as when the
life of the body is taken away, man's every member and part loses its
due disposition, so when the life of justice, which is by faith, is done
away, disorder appears in all his members. First, in his mouth, whereby
chiefly his mind stands revealed; secondly, in his eyes; thirdly, in the
instrument of movement; fourthly, in his will, which tends to evil. The
result is that 'he sows discord,' endeavoring to sever others
from the faith even as he severed himself." (St. Thomas Aquinas,
Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the
Church")
"Apostasy
denotes a backsliding from God. This may happen in various ways
according to the different kinds of union between man and God. For, in
the first place, man is united to God by faith; secondly, by having his
will duly submissive in obeying His commandments; thirdly, by certain
special things pertaining to supererogation such as the religious life,
the clerical state, or Holy Orders. Now if that which follows be
removed, that which precedes, remains, but the converse does not hold.
Accordingly a man may apostatize from God, by withdrawing from the
religious life to which he was bound by profession, or from the Holy
Order which he had received: and this is called apostasy from religious
life or Orders. A man may also apostatize from God, by rebelling in his
mind against the Divine commandments: and though man may apostatize in
both the above ways, he may still remain united to God by faith. But if
he give up the faith, then he seems to turn away from God altogether:
and consequently, apostasy simply and absolutely is that whereby a man
withdraws from the faith, and is called apostasy of perfidy. In this way
apostasy, simply so called, pertains to unbelief... Now apostasy regards
unbelief as the term whereto of the movement of withdrawal from the
faith; wherefore apostasy does not imply a special kind of unbelief, but
an aggravating circumstance thereof, according to 2 Peter 2:21: 'It
had been better for them not to know the truth, than after they had
known it, to turn back.'" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the
Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
Also
See: No
Peace When We Wander From God | Calls
to Repentance | Cannot
Live as One Chooses | Catholics
Not Living Their Faith Will Be Swept Away | Christians
Who Do Not Persevere Are Subject To Eternal Punishment | The
Church Can Forgive All Sin | Conversion
/ Repentance | Loss
of the Fear of God | No
Repentance is Too Late | Our
Solicitude & Our Duty to Correct / Rebuke | Sin
/ Repentance / Forgiveness | Necessity
of Being Catholic For Salvation | Better
to Be a Bad Catholic Than a Good Protestant? | Those
Not in the State of Grace May Not Receive Holy Communion | Tips
for the Conversion of Sinners | Penance
(Sacraments/Reflections) | Tough
Love in the New Testament
Note:
Categories are subjective and may overlap. For more items related
to this topic, please review all applicable categories. For more
'Reflections' and for Scripture topics, see links below.
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Those
Who Leave the Church
Also See:
Those Outside the Church (Topic Page)
|
"[W]hosoever
turns his back on the Church cannot be near to Christ." (Pope Leo
XIII, "Rerum Novarum", 1891 A.D.)
"...those... have sinned against God by
deserting the faith." (Pope St. Leo The Great, Doctor of the
Church, 452 A.D.) "He
who abandons the See of Peter on which the Church was founded, falsely
believes himself to be a part of the Church." (St. Cyprian)
"They
have not the heritage of Peter who have not the see of Peter, rent by
their impious division." [Tertullian ("an excellent early
Christian writer" - although he would ultimately fall into heresy),
3rd century A.D.]
"Why, therefore, did
you, already dearest in Christ, wander away from your portion, or
what hope did you have for your salvation?" (Pope Pelagius I,
560 A.D.)
"For not every sin, however grave and
enormous it be, is such as to sever a man automatically from the
body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy."
(Pope Pius XII)
"Do they actually think that Christ is with
them in their gatherings, when they gather outside the Church of
Christ?" (St. Cyprian of Carthage) "Even the
heretics
appear to have Christ, for none of them denies the name of Christ;
yet anyone who does not confess all that pertains to Christ does
in fact deny Christ." (St. Ambrose of Milan, Doctor of the
Church, c. 389 A.D.)
"Whoever
wishes to be saved, needs above all to hold the Catholic faith;
unless each one preserves this whole and inviolate, he will
without a doubt perish in eternity." ('Athanasian
Creed')
"The
Church is like the ark of Noah, outside of which nobody can be
saved." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"Furthermore,
we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for
salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff." (Pope Boniface VIII, "Unam
Sanctam", 1302 A.D.)
"How
much they are to be pitied who once knew thee [O Church], and
afterwards, in their pride and ingratitude, denied thee! And yet no one
ever fell into such misery unless he first voluntarily shut his eyes
against the light that was within them." (Gueranger)
"Hold most firmly and never doubt in the
least that not only all pagans but also all Jews and heretics and
schismatics who end this present life outside the Church are about
to go into the eternal fire that was prepared for the Devil and
his angels." (St. Fulgence of Ruspe, 6th century A.D.)
"Whosoever
shall have separated himself from the Catholic Church, no matter how
praiseworthy such a person may fancy his life has been, yet for that one
crime of having cut himself off from the unity of Christ he shall not
have eternal life, but the wrath of God shall abide with him for
ever." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church, 5th century A.D.)
Error
CONDEMNED by Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors: "We must have at least good hope
concerning the eternal salvation of all those who in no wise are
in the true Church of Christ." (Bl. Pope Pius IX, This
proposition was condemned in the Syllabus of Errors, Dec. 8,
1864 A.D.)
"Indeed,
as long as you remain outside the Church and severed from the
fabric of unity and bond of charity, you would be punished with
everlasting chastisement, even if you were burned alive for
Christ's sake." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
"The
holy universal Church proclaims that God cannot truly be worshiped
save within herself and asserts that all they who are without her
pale shall never be saved." (Pope St. Gregory the Great,
Doctor of the Church, 6th century A.D.)
"Whoever is led away from
the path of the true faith and changed into another faith, his whole
journey is an apostasy; and the farther he travels from the Catholic
light, the nearer he comes to the darkness of death" (Pope St. Leo the
Great, Doctor of the Church)
"Can.
17. If anyone in word and mind does not properly and truly confess
according to the holy Fathers all even to the last portion that
has been handed down and preached in the holy, Catholic, and
apostolic Church of God, and likewise by the holy Fathers and the
five venerable universal Councils, let him be condemned." (Lateran Council, 649 A.D.)
"[Question:]
Whether when material schismatics at the point of death, in good
faith seek either absolution or extreme unction, these sacraments
can be conferred on them without their renouncing errors? - Reply:
In the negative, but that it be required that they reject errors
as best they can, and make a profession of faith." (Reply of the Holy Office, 1916 A.D.)
"Let
no one, then, be persuaded otherwise, nor let anyone deceive
himself: outside this house, that is, outside the Church, no one
is saved. For if anyone go outside, he is guilty of his own
death." [Origen ("the greatest scholar of Christian
antiquity" - although he would eventually be excommunicated
and be regarded as a heretic), 3rd century A.D.]
"He
who does not maintain this unity of the Church, does he believe that he
retains the faith? He who deserts the chair of Peter on whom the Church
has been founded, does he still believe that he is in the Church? Does
he who strives against and resists the church, believe that he is in the
Church...? (Attr. St. Cyprian, 3rd century A.D.)
"Secede
not from the Church: for nothing is stronger than the Church. Thy hope
is the Church; thy salvation is the Church; thy refuge is the Church. It
is higher than the heavens and wider than the earth. It never grows old,
but is ever full of vigor. Wherefore Holy Writ pointing to its strength
and stability calls it a mountain" (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of
the Church)
"[P]ersist
ye in the true faith, and make your life firm on the rock of the Church;
that is on the confession of the blessed Peter, Prince of the apostles,
lest all those tears of yours and all those good works should come to
nothing, if they are found alien from the true faith. For as branches
dry up without the virtue of the root, so works, to whatsoever degree
they may seem good, are nothing, if they are disjoined from the solidity
of the faith." (Pope St. Gregory the Great, Doctor of the Church)
"Anyone who is outside this Church, which
received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, is walking a path not
to heaven but to hell. He is not approaching the home of eternal
life; rather, he is hastening to the torment of eternal death. And
this is the case not only if he remains a pagan without Baptism,
but even if, after having been baptized in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, he continue as a heretic."
(St. Fulgence of Ruspe, 6th century A.D.) "They
who have not peace themselves now offer peace to others. They who have
withdrawn from the Church promise to lead back and to recall the lapsed
into the Church. There is one God and one Christ, and one Church, and
one Chair founded on Peter by the word of the Lord. It is not possible
to set up another altar or for there to be another priesthood besides
that one altar and that one priesthood. Whoever has gathered elsewhere
is scattering." (St. Cyprian of Carthage, 251 A.D.)
"Let
them hear Lactantius crying out: 'The Catholic Church is alone in
keeping the true worship. This is the fount of truth, this the house of
Faith, this the temple of God: if any man enter not here, or if any man
go forth from it, he is a stranger to the hope of life and salvation.
Let none delude himself with obstinate wrangling. For life and salvation
are here concerned, which will be lost and entirely destroyed, unless
their interests are carefully and assiduously kept in mind.'"
(Pope Pius XI, "Mortalium Animos", 1928 A.D.)
"For
since the mystical body of Christ, in the same manner as His physical
body, is one, compacted and fitly joined together, it were foolish and
out of place to say that the mystical body is made up of members which
are disunited and scattered abroad: whosoever therefore is not united
with the body is no member of it, neither is he in communion with Christ
its head." (Pope Pius XI, "Mortalium Animos", 1928 A.D.)
"Those, indeed, who belong to God and to Jesus
Christ - they
are with the bishop. And those who repent and come to the unity of
the Church - they too shall be of God, and will be living
according to Jesus Christ. Do not err, my brethren: if anyone
follow a schismatic, he will not inherit the Kingdom of God. If
any man walk with strange doctrine, he cannot lie down with the Passion." (St. Ignatius of Antioch,
a hearer of the apostle John, c. 110 A.D.)
"A
man cannot have salvation, except in the Catholic Church. Outside
the Catholic Church he can have everything except salvation. He
can have honor, he can have Sacraments, he can sing alleluia, he
can answer amen, he can possess the gospel, he can have and preach
faith in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit; but never except in the Catholic Church will he be able to
find salvation." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church, c.
418 A.D.)
"O
sacred unity, O precious faith deposited like a source of eternal
youthfulness in our hearts, they indeed know thee not, who turn
themselves away from holy Church! Afar from her, they lose also Jesus
and all his gifts. 'For where the Church is, there likewise is the
Spirit or God; and, where the Spirit of God is, there likewise is the
Church, there all grace. Woe to them who alienate themselves from her!'
[St. Irenaeus (disciple of St. Polycarp, a disciple of St. John the
Apostle), 2nd Century A.D.]." (Liturgical Year)
"Sara said: 'Cast out the bondwoman and her
son; for the son of a bondwoman shall not be heir with my son
Isaac.' And the Church says: 'Cast out heresies and their
children; for heretics
shall not be heirs with Catholics.' But why shall they not be
heirs? Are they not born off Abraham's seed? And have they not the
Church's Baptism? They do have Baptism; and it would make the seed
of Abraham an heir, if pride did not exclude them from
inheritance. By the same word, by the same Sacrament you were
born, but you will not come to the same inheritance of eternal
life unless you return to the Catholic Church." (St.
Augustine, Doctor of the Church, c. 5th century A.D.)
"And
as an incapability of taking food, or of retaining it when taken,
is a sure sign of approaching death, so is it a strong argument
for their hopelessness of salvation, when men either seek not the
Word of God, or, having it, endure it not, but utter against God
the impious cry, 'Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of
thy ways.' This is the spiritual folly and mental blindness of
those who, disregarding their lawful pastors, the Catholic Bishops
and priests, and, abandoning the Holy Roman Church, have
transferred themselves to the direction of heretics that corrupt
the Word of God." (Catechism of the Council of Trent)
"Thus there are branches in the vine, not
that they may bestow anything upon the vine, but that they may
receive from it the means by which they may live; so truly the
vine is in the branches, that it may furnish vital nourishment to
these, not take it from them. And by this it is an advantage to
the disciples, not to Christ, that each have Christ abiding in
him, and that each abide in Christ. For if the branch is cut off,
another can sprout forth from the living root; but that which has
been cut off, cannot live without the root (John 15:5 ff.)."
(St. Prosper/Council of Orange II, 529 A.D.) "All who, regarding the sacrament of the
Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, or regarding baptism or
the confession of sins, matrimony or the other ecclesiastical
sacraments, do not fear to think or to teach otherwise than the
most holy Roman Church teaches and observes; and in general,
whomsoever the same Roman Church or individual bishops through
their dioceses with the advice of the clergy or the clergy
themselves, if the episcopal see is vacant, with the advice if it
is necessary of neighboring bishops, shall judge as heretics,
we bind with a like bond of perpetual anathema." (Council of
Verona, 1184 A.D.) "What the soul is to man's body, the Holy
Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church. The Holy
Spirit does in the whole Church what the soul does in all the
members of one body. But see what you must beware of, see what you
must take note of, see what you must fear. It
happens that, as in the human body, some member may be cut off - a hand,
a finger, a foot. Does the soul follow the amputated member? As long as
it was in the body it lived; separated, it forfeits its life. So the
Christian is a Catholic as long as he lives in the body: cut off from it
he becomes a heretic - the life of the spirit follows not the amputated
member." (St.
Augustine, Doctor of the Church, 5th century A.D.)
"That
all, therefore, might know which was the Catholic Church, the
Fathers, guided by the Spirit of God, added to the Creed the word
Apostolic. For the Holy Ghost, who presides over the Church,
governs her by no other ministers than those of Apostolic
succession. This Spirit, first imparted to the Apostles, has by
the infinite goodness of God always continued in the Church. And
just as this one Church cannot err in faith or morals, since it is
guided by the Holy Ghost; so on the contrary, all other societies
abrogating to themselves the name of church, must necessarily,
because guided by the spirit of the devil, be sunk in the most
pernicious errors, both doctrinal and moral." (Catechism of
the Council of Trent) "The
Bride of Christ cannot be defiled. She is inviolate and chaste.
She knows but one home, and with a chaste modesty she guards the
sanctity of one bedchamber. It is she that keeps us for God, she
that seals for the kingdom the sons whom she bore. Whoever is
separated from the Church and is joined to an adulteress is separated
from the promises of the Church; nor will he that forsakes the
Church of Christ attain to the rewards of Christ. He is an alien,
a worldling, and an enemy. He cannot have God for his Father who
does not have the Church for his mother. If anyone outside the ark
of Noah was able to escape, then perhaps someone outside the pale
of the Church may escape" (St. Cyprian of Carthage, c. 251
A.D.)
"We
must mention and condemn again that most pernicious error, which
has been imbibed by certain Catholics, who are of the opinion that
those people who live in error and have not the true faith, and
are separated from the Catholic unity, may obtain life
everlasting. Now this opinion is contrary to Catholic Faith, as is
evident from the plain words of Our Lord (Mt. 18:17; Mk. 16:16; Lk.
10:16) as also from the words of St. Paul (e.g. Acts 20:28-30) and
of St. Peter (2 Pt. 2:1). To entertain opinions contrary to this
Catholic Faith is to be an impious wretch." (Bl. Pope Pius
IX)
"The third mark of the Church is that she is Catholic; that is, universal. And justly is she called Catholic, because, as St. Augustine says, she is diffused by the splendor of one faith from the rising to the setting sun. Unlike states of human institutions of the sects of heretics, she is not confined to any one country or class of men, but embraces within the amplitude of her love all mankind, whether barbarians or Scythians, slaves or freemen, male or
female... Moreover to this Church, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets belong all the faithful who have existed from Adam to the present day, or who shall exist, in the profession of the true faith, to the end of
time... She is also called universal, because all who desire eternal salvation must cling to and embrace her, like those who entered the ark to escape perishing in the flood." (Catechism of the Council of Trent)
"One
indeed is the universal Church of the faithful, outside which no
one at all is saved, in which the priest himself is
the sacrifice,
Jesus Christ, whose body and blood are truly contained in the
sacrament of the altar under the species of bread and wine; the
bread (changed) into His body by the divine power of
transubstantiation, and the wine into the blood, so that to
accomplish the mystery of unity we ourselves receive from His
(nature) what He Himself received from ours. And surely no one can
accomplish this sacrament except a priest who has been rightly
ordained according to the keys of the Church which Jesus Christ
Himself conceded to the Apostles and to their successors."
(Lateran Council IV, 1215 A.D.)
"[The Holy Roman
Catholic Church] firmly believes, professes, and proclaims that those not living
within the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and
heretics and schismatics cannot become participants in eternal
life, but will depart 'into everlasting fire which was prepared
for the devil and his angels' (Matt. 25:41), unless before the end
of life the same have been added to the flock; and that the unity
of the ecclesiastical body is so strong that only to those
remaining in it are the sacraments of the Church of benefit for
salvation, and do fastings, almsgiving, and other functions of
piety and exercises of Christian service produce eternal reward,
and that no one, whatever almsgiving he has practiced, even if he
has shed blood for the name of Christ, can be saved, unless he has
remained in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church."
(Council of Florence, c. 1441 A.D.) [Denzinger 714]
"They
should consider the testimony of Christ Himself that 'those who
are not with Christ are against Him,' and that they disperse
unhappily who do not gather with Him. Therefore 'without a doubt,
they will perish forever, unless they hold the Catholic faith
whole and inviolate.' Let them hear Jerome who, while the Church
was torn into three parts by schism, tells us that whenever
someone tried to persuade him to join his group he always
exclaimed: 'He who is for the See of Peter is for me.' A
schismatic flatters himself falsely if he asserts that he, too,
has been washed in the waters of regeneration. Indeed Augustine
would reply to such a man: 'The branch has the same form when it
has been cut off from the vine; but of what profit for it is the
form, if it does not live from the root?'" (Pope Gregory XVI,
"Mirari vos arbitramur", 1832 A.D.)
"Finally, We call very lovingly to
Ourselves those who had once been enlightened, and had tasted the
Heavenly Gift and had been made partakers, nevertheless, then
erred most miserably and follow those sects whether they are
engaged in their inferior or abide in their superior degrees. For,
the one standing in the place of Him Who has professed that He has
not come to call the just but sinners, and Who has likened Himself
to a Shepherd, Who, when He has left the remaining flock behind,
carefully seeks the sheep He has lost, We exhort and implore them
to turn back to Christ. For although they have defiled themselves
exceedingly with crime, they ought not despair of Mercy and
Clemency from God and Jesus Christ Who has suffered for them also,
Who will not despise in any way their repentance, but certainly
like a most loving Father, who a long time ago was waiting for his
prodigal sons, will very gladly receive it." (Pope Leo XII,
"Quo Graviora", 1826 A.D.) "Furthermore
We teach and declare that the Roman Church, by the disposition of
the Lord, holds the sovereignty of ordinary power over all others,
and that this power of jurisdiction on the part of the Roman
Pontiff, which is truly episcopal, is immediate; and with respect
to this the pastors and the faithful of whatever rite and dignity,
both as separate individuals and all together, are bound by the
duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, not only in
things which pertain to faith and morals, but also in those which
pertain to the discipline and government of the Church [which is]
spread over the whole world, so that the Church of Christ,
protected not only by the Roman Pontiff, but by the unity of
communion as well as of the profession of the same faith is one
flock under the one highest shepherd. This is the doctrine of
Catholic truth from which no one can deviate and keep his faith
and salvation." (Vatican Council I, 1870 A.D.) "Can. 20. If anyone according to the wicked
heretics in any
manner whatsoever, by any word whatsoever, or at any time or place
whatsoever illicitly removing the bounds which the holy Fathers of
the Catholic Church have rather firmly established (Prov. 22:28),
that is, the five holy and universal Synods, in order rashly to
seek for novelties and expositions of another faith; or books, or
letters, or writings, or subscriptions, or false testimonies, or
synods, or records of deeds, or vain ordinations unknown to
ecclesiastical rule; or unsuitable and irrational tenures of
place; and briefly, if it is customary for the most impious heretics
to do anything else, (if anyone) through diabolical operation
crookedly and cunningly acts contrary to the pious preachings of
the orthodox (teachers) of the Catholic Church, that is to say,
its paternal and synodal proclamations, to the destruction of the
most sincere confession unto the Lord our God, and persists
without repentance unto the end impiously doing these things, let
such a person be condemned forever, and let all the people say: so
be it, so be it (Ps. 105:48)." (Lateran Council, 649
A.D.) "Now,
if we look at what was done, Jesus Christ did not arrange and
organize such a Church as would embrace several communities
similar in kind, but distinct, and not bound together by those
bonds that make the Church indivisible and unique after that
manner clearly in which we profess in the symbol of faith, 'I
believe in one Church.' ... Now, Jesus Christ when He was speaking
of such a mystical edifice, spoke only of one Church which He
called His own: 'I will build my Church' (Matt. 16:18). Whatever
other church is under consideration than this one, since it was
not founded by Jesus Christ, cannot be the true Church of
Christ... And so the Church is bound to spread among all men the
salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ, and all the blessings that
proceed therefrom, and to propagate them through the ages.
Therefore, according to the will of its Author the Church must be
alone in all lands in the perpetuity of time... The Church of
Christ, therefore, is one and perpetual; whoever go apart (from
it) wander away from the will and prescription of Christ the Lord
and, leaving the way of salvation, digress to destruction."
(Pope Leo XIII, "Satis Cognitum", June 29, 1898)
"Consider,
most dear ones, that the Truth could not have lied, nor will the
faith of Peter be able to be shaken or changed forever. For
although the devil desired to sift all the disciples, the Lord
testifies that He Himself asked for Peter alone and wished the
others to be confirmed by him; and to him also, in consideration
of a greater love which he showed the Lord before the rest, was
committed the care of feeding the sheep (cf. John 21:15 ff.); and
to him also He handed over the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and
upon him He promised to build his Church, and He testified that
the gates of hell would not prevail against it (cf. Matt. 16:16
ff.). But, because the enemy of the human race even until the end
of the world does not abstain from sowing cockle (Matt. 13:25)
over the good seed in the Church of the Lord, and therefore, lest
perchance anyone with malignant zeal should by the instigation of
the devil presume to make some alterations in and to draw
conclusions regarding the integrity of the faith - and (lest) by
reason of this your minds perhaps may seem to be disturbed, we
have judged it necessary through our present epistle to exhort
with tears that you should return to the heart of your mother the
Church, and to send you satisfaction with regard to the integrity
of faith... 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... Consider (therefore) the fact that whoever has not
been in the peace and unity of the Church, cannot have the Lord (Gal.
3:7)" (Pope Pelagius II, c. 585 A.D.)
"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 which there is no
salvation nor remission of sin, the Spouse in the Canticle
proclaiming: 'One is my dove, my perfect one. One she is of her
mother, the chosen of her that bore her' (Song. 6:8); which
represents the one mystical body whose head is Christ, of Christ
indeed, as God. And in this, 'one Lord, one faith, one baptism' (Eph.
4:5). Certainly Noah had one ark at the time of the flood,
prefiguring one Church which perfect on one cubit had one ruler
and guide, namely Noah outside which we read all living things on
the earth were destroyed. Moreover this we venerate and this
alone, the Lord in the prophet saying: 'Deliver, O God, my soul
from the sword; my only one from the hand of the dog' (Ps. 21:21).
For in behalf of the soul, that is, in behalf of himself, the head
itself and the body he prayed at the same time, which body he
called the 'Only one' namely, the Church, because of the unity of
the spouse, the faith, the sacraments, and the charity of the
Church. This is that 'seamless tunic' of the Lord (John 19:23),
which was not cut, but came forth by chance. Therefore, of the one
and only Church (there is) one body, one head, not two heads as a
monster, namely, Christ and Peter, the Vicar of Christ and the
successor of Peter, the Lord Himself saying to Peter: 'Feed my
sheep' (John 21:17). He said 'My,' and generally, not individually
these or those, through which it is understood that He entrusted
all to him. If, therefore, the Greeks or others say that they were
not entrusted to Peter and his successors, of necessity let them
confess that they are not of the sheep of Christ, since the Lord
says in John, 'to be one flock and one Shepherd' (John 10:16)." (Pope Boniface VIII, "Unam Sanctam", 1302
A.D.)
"The Lord said that to those sinning
against the Holy Spirit, it should not be forgiven either here or
in the future world (Matt. 12:32). But how many do we know that
sin against the Holy Spirit, such as various heretics...who return to the Catholic faith, and here have received the
pardon of their blasphemy, and have enjoyed the hope of gaining
indulgence in the future? And not on this account is the judgment
of the Lord not true, or will it be thought to be in any way
weakened, since with respect to such men, if they continue to be
thus, the judgment remains never to be relaxed at all; moreover,
never because of such effects is it not imposed. Just as
consequently is also that of the blessed John the Apostle: There
is a sin unto death: I do not say that prayer should be offered
for this: and there is a sin not unto death: I do say that prayer
should be offered for this (1 John 5:16, 17). It is a sin unto
death for those persisting in the same sin; it is not a sin unto
death for those withdrawing from the same sin. For there is no sin
for whose remission the Church does not pray, or which she cannot
forgive those who desist from that same sin, or from which she
cannot loose those who repent, since the power has been divinely
given to her, to whom it was said: Whatsoever you shall forgive
upon earth ...' (cf. John 20:23); 'whatsoever you shall loose upon
earth, shall be loosed also in heaven' (Matt. 18:18). In
whatsoever all are [included], howsoever great they may be, and of
whatsoever kind they may be, although the judgment of them
nevertheless remains true, by which he is denounced [as] never to
be loosed who continues in the course of them, but not after he
withdraws from this same [course]." (Pope St. Gelasius I, c. 495 A.D.) "Do
not (therefore) because of a love of ostentation, which is always next to pride, remain in the vice of
obstinacy; since in the day of judgment no one can excuse
himself... For although it is evident from the word of the Lord
Himself in the Sacred Gospel (cf. Matt. 16:18) where the Church is
established, let us hear nevertheless what the blessed Augustine,
mindful of the opinion of the same Lord, has explained. For he
says that the Church of God is established among those who are
known to preside over the apostolic sees, through the succession
of those in charge, and whoever separates himself from the
communion or authority of these sees, is shown to be in schism.
And following additional remarks (he says): 'If you are put
outside, for the name of Christ you will also die. Suffer for
Christ among the members of Christ; clinging to the body, fight
for the head.' But the blessed Cyprian...among other things, says
the following: 'The beginning starts from unity, and the primacy
is given to Peter, So that the Church and the chair of Christ may
be shown (to be) one: and they are all shepherds, but the flock,
which is fed by the Apostles in unanimous agreement, is shown to
be one.' And after a few (remarks he adds): 'Does he who does
not hold this unity of the Church believe that he has the faith?
Does he who deserts and resists the chair of Peter, on which the
Church was founded, have confidence that he is in the Church?'
Likewise after other remarks (he asserts): 'They can not arrive
at the reward of peace, because they disrupt the peace of the Lord
by the fury of discord... Those who were not willing to be at
agreement in the Church of God, cannot remain with God; although
given over to flames and fires, they burn, or thrown to wild
beasts, they lay down their lives, there will not be [for them]
that crown of faith, but the punishment of faithlessness, not a
glorious result (of religious virtue), but the ruin of despair.
Such a one can be slain, he cannot be crowned... For the crime of
schism is worse than that which they [commit] who have offered
sacrifice, who, nevertheless, having been disposed to penance for
their sins prayed to God with the fullest satisfaction. In this
case the Church is sought and solicited; in the other the Church
is opposed. So in this case he who has fallen, has injured only
himself; in the other, who attempts to cause a schism deceives
many by dragging (them) with himself. In this case there is the
loss of one soul; in the other there is danger to many. Certainly
the one knows that he has sinned and laments and bewails (it); the
other puffed up with pride in his sin and pluming himself on the
sins themselves, separates sons from their mother, seduces the
sheep from the shepherds, disturbs the sacraments of God, and,
whereas the former having stumbled sinned once, the latter sins
daily. Lastly although the lapsed, if afterwards he acquired
martyrdom, is able to secure the promises of the kingdom; if the
other is slain outside of the Church, he cannot attain to the
rewards of the Church.'" (Pope Pelagius II, 585 A.D.)
"Return to submission to Mother Church, a
submission as honorable as it is salutary, and know that we have...no keener desire than that of your salvation."
(Pope Benedict XI) Also
See: Necessity
of Being Catholic For Salvation | No
Just Cause for Catholics Changing or Doubting the Faith | Non-Association
with Heretics / Schismatics | One
Cannot Find the Way to Salvation in Just Any Religion | Heresy/Heretics
& Schism/Schismatics |
Sin
/ Repentance / Forgiveness | Those
Outside the Church | Those
Who Reject the Church Reject Christ | True
Holiness Belongs to the Catholic Church Alone | True
vs. False Church | Truth / Error / Nature of Man
| Necessity
of Union With the Roman Pontiff (Vatican View Reflections)
Can
Catholic Dogma Ever Change?
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