-The maxim of St. Cyprian: "Extra ecclesiam nulla salus", Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. VI.
If someone from this people wants to be saved, let him come into this (Catholic) house so that he may be able to attain his salvation....Let no one, then, be persuaded otherwise, nor let anyone deceive himself: Outside of this house, that is, outside of the Church, no one is saved; for, if anyone should go out of it, he is guilty of his own death.
-St. Origen: "Homily on Jesu Nave 3. 5", p 12. 841.
For 'there is one universal (Catholic) Church outside of which no one at all is saved...'
-Pope Pius IX, Ubi Primum (On Discipline For Religious), Encyclical Promulgated on June 17, 1847, #10.
It is only the Catholic Church that retains the true worship. It is the fountain of truth, it is the household of the faith, it is the temple of God: If anyone does not enter it, or if anyone departs from it, he is a stranger to the hope of life and salvation. Let no one deceive himself by continuous wranglings. Life and salvation are in the balance, which if not looked to carefully and diligently will be lost and destroyed.
-Lactantius, Divin. Institutiones 4, 30, 11-12, PL 6. 542, (quoted by Pope Pius XI, Pontifex Maximus, in Mortalium Animos (The Promotion of True Religious Unity), Encyclical Promulgated on January 6, 1928.
There is no salvation outside the Caholic Church. Anyone who resists this truth perishes.
-St. Louis Marie de Montfort, (quoted in article "EXTRA ECCLESIAM NULLA SALUS (No Salvation Outside the Church), by Our Lady of the Rosary Library).
Some say they are not bound by the doctrine, explained in Our Encyclical Letter of a few years ago, and based on the sources of revelation, which teaches that the Mystical Body of Christ and the Roman Catholic Church are one and the same thing. Some reduce to a meaningless formula the necessity of belonging to the true Church in order to gain eternal salvation.
-Pope Pius XII, Humani Generis (Concerning Some False Opinions Threatening to Undermine the Foundations of Catholic Doctrine), Encyclical promulgated on August 12, 1950, #27.
For they cannot live outside (the Catholic Church), since there is only one house of God, and there can be no salvation for anyone except in the Church.
-St. Cyprian: "Letters 61:4".
I profess that outside the Catholic Church no one is saved.
-Pope Sylvester II, Profession of Faith made as Archbishop of Rheims, in June, 991; quoted in "Letters of Gerbert, NY: Columbia University Press, 1961, p. 224, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 2: "The Book of Salvation", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Outside the One True Church").
Outside of this communion (as outside of the Ark of Noah) there is absolutely no salvation for mortals: not to Jews or Pagans, who never received the faith of the Church; not to heretics who, having received it, forsook or corrupted it; not to schismatics who left the peace and unity of the Church; finally neither to excommunicates who for any other serious cause deserved to be put away and separated from the body of the Church, like pernicious members....For the rule of Cyprian and Augustine is certain: he will not have God for his Father who would not have the Church for his Mother.
-St. Peter Canisius, Catechismi Latini et Germanici, (quoted in Gate of Heaven, by sister Catherine Goddard Clark, chatper 1).
There is only one true, holy, Catholic church, which is the Apostolic Roman Church. There is only one See founded in Peter by the word of the Lord, 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...This hope of salvation is placed in the Catholic Church which, in preserving the true worship, is the solid home of this faith and the temple of God. Outside of the Church, nobody can hope for life or salvation...
-Pope Pius IX, Singulari Quidem (On The Church In Austria), Encyclical Promulgated on March 17, 1856, #4 & #7.
There is no entering into salvation outside of the Church, just as in the time of the Deluge there was none outside the Ark which denotes the Church.
-Pope John Paul II, quoted in "The Wanderer", May 14, 1992, p. 10, col. 4, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 2: "The Book of Salvation", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Outside the One True Church").
Outside the Church there is no salvation...therefore in the symbol (Apostles Creed) we join together the Church with the remission of sins: 'I believe in the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins'...For this reason the Church is compared to the Ark of Noah, because just as during the deluge, everyone perished who was not in the ark, so now those perish who are not in the Church.
-St. Robert Bellarmine, De Sacramento Baptismi, (quoted in article "The Perennial Understanding of the Church", by Saint Benedict Center).
This Sacred Council wishes to turn its attention firstly to the Catholic faithful. Basing itself upon Sacred Scripture and Tradition, it teaches that the Church, now sojourning on earth as an exile, is necessary for salvation....Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved.
-Pope Paul VI, in Council of Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church "Lumen Gentium", Promulgated on November 21, 1964, Chapter II "On the People of God", #14.
For the (Catholic) Church, although of itself including the totality or fullness of the means of salvation...
-Pope Paul VI, in Decrees of Second Vatican Council, Decree on the Mission Activity of the Church "Ad Gentes", Chapter I "Principles of Doctrine", #6.
For it is only through Christ's Catholic Church, which is 'the all-embracing means of salvation,' that they can benefit fully from the means of salvation.
-Pope Paul VI, in Decrees of Second Vatican Council, Decree On Ecumenism "Unitatis Redintegratio", Chapter I "Catholic Principles On Ecumenism", #3.
The Constitution 'Lumen Gentium', in a fundamental affirmation echoed by the Decree 'Unitatis Redintegratio', states that the one Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church. The Decree on Ecumenism emphasizes the presence in her of the fullness ('plenitudo') of the means of salvation. Full unity will come about when all share in the fullness of the means of salvation entrusted by Christ to his Church.
-Pope John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint (That They May Be One), Encyclical promulgated on May 25, 1995, #86.
There is indeed one universal (Catholic) church of the faithful, outside of which nobody at all is saved.
-Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, #1: Confession of Faith, 1215, proclaimed "ex cathedra" (infallible).
With the same great strength of mind, foster in all men their unity with the Catholic Church, outside of which there is no salvation; also foster their obedience towards this See of Peter on which rests the entire structure of our most holy religion.
-Pope Pius IX, Qui Pluribus (On Faith And Religion), Encyclical Promulgated on November 9, 1846, #20.
Also well known is the Catholic teaching that no one can be saved outside the Catholic Church. Eternal salvation cannot be obtained by those who...are stubbornly separated from the unity of the Church.
-Pope Pius IX, Quanto Conficiamur Moerore (On Promotion Of False Doctrines), Encyclical Promulgated on August 10, 1863, #8.
The Catholic Church alone is the Body of Christ, of which He is Head and Savior. The 'People of God' and the 'Mystical Body of Christ' are one and the same thing, both of them designating the Church. Membership in the Church requires conditions other than Baptism alone; it requires identical faith and unity of communion, so that by means of the Catholic Church alone, which is the unrestricted instrument of salvation, is it possible to obtain the fullness of the means to salvation. Indeed, the Church is both a sure and an exclusive means of attaining salvation. We must always remember the unity of the Mystical Body outside which there is no salvation, for there is no entering into salvation outside the Church. Outside this Body, the Holy Spirit gives life to no one: those who are enemies to unity do not participate in the charity of Divine Life; those outside the Church do not possess the Holy Spirit. The entrance to salvation is open to no one outside the Church!
-Pope Paul VI, General Audience of May 15, 1974, and reported in "The Wanderer", May 30, 1975, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 2: "The Book of Salvation", Chapter 2: "Salvation is Found Only in the Catholic Church").
There is no entering into salvation outside the Catholic Church, just as in the time of the Flood there was not salvation outside the Ark, which denotes the Church.
-St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, (quoted in article "The Perennial Understanding of the Church", by Saint Benedict Center).
Be not deceived, my brother; if anyone follows a schismatic (one who has separated themselves from the Catholic Church), he will not attain the inheritance of the kingdom of God.
-St. Ignatius, in his letter to the Philadelphians (Quoted by Pope Gregory XVI in Summo Iugiter Studio (On Mixed Marriages), Encyclical promulgated on May 27, 1832, #5.
Whoever has separated himself from the Catholic Church, no matter how laudably he lives, will not have eternal life, but has earned the anger of God because of this one crime...
-St. Augustine, Council of Cirta, 412 (Quoted by Pope Gregory XVI in Summo Iugiter Studio (On Mixed Marriages), Encyclical promulgated on May 27, 1832, #5.
The sacrosanct Roman 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 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.
-Pope Eugene IV, Cantate Domino, Bull promulgated on February 4, 1441 (Florentine style), proclaimed "ex cathedra" (infallible).
...those Christian nations which have unhappily fallen away from Mother (Catholic) Church to turn once more to her in whom lies all hope of eternal salvation.
-Pope Benedict XV, Spiritus Paraclitus (On St. Jerome), Encyclical promulgated on September 15, 1920, #68.
There is but one plain known road. When you wander from this, you are lost. You must be altogether within the House of God, within the walls of salvation, to be sound and safe from injury. If you wander and walk abroad ever so little, if you carelessly thrust hand or foot out of the Ship, you shall be thrust forth: the door is shut, the ocean roars, you are undone.
-St. Edmund Campion, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 2: "The Book of Salvation", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Outside the One True Church").
...We cannot but remind all, great and small, as Pope St. Gregory did, of the absolute necessity of having recourse to this Church in order to have eternal salvation, to follow the right road of reason, to feed on the truth, to obtain peace and even happiness in this life.
-Pope Pius X, Iucunda Sane (On Pope Gregory the Great), Encyclical promulgated on March 12, 1904, #9.
Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins...and she represents one sole mystical body....There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church...and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.
-Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam, Bull promulgated on November 18, 1302, proclaimed "ex cathedra" (infallible).
Why did Jesus Christ found the Church? Jesus Christ founded the Church to bring all men to eternal salvation. (a) The Church instituted by Christ is the only way to eternal salvation. Christ gave the Church the means whereby man can be sanctified and saved....
Are all obliged to belong to the Catholic Church in order to be saved? All are obliged to belong to the Catholic Church in order to be saved.
What do we mean when we say, "Outside the Church there is no salvation"? When we say, Outside the Church there is no salvation," we mean that those who through their own grave fault do not know that the Catholic Church is the true Church or, knowing it, refuse to join it, cannot be saved. (a) "Outside the Church there is no salvation" does not mean that everyone who is not a Catholic will be condemned. It does mean that no one can be saved unless he belongs in some manner to the Catholic Church, either actually or in desire, for the means of grace are not given without some relation to the divine institution established by Christ.
-Baltimore Catechism, #3, Chapters 11 & 12, #138, 166-167.
-Baltimore Catechism, #3, Chapters 11 & 12, #138, 166-167.
Outside the Church there is no salvation"
How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? [Cf. Cyprian, Ep. 73.21: PL 3, 1169; De unit.: PL 4, 509-536.] Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the (Catholic) Church which is his Body:
Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it."
-Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part One, "The Profession of Faith", Section Two, "The Profession of the Christian Faith", Chapter Three, "I Believe in the Holy Spirit, Article 9, "I Believe in the Holy Catholic Church", Paragraph 3, "The Church Is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic", Section III, "The Church Is Catholic", #846 (1992 edition, p 244).
-Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part One, "The Profession of Faith", Section Two, "The Profession of the Christian Faith", Chapter Three, "I Believe in the Holy Spirit, Article 9, "I Believe in the Holy Catholic Church", Paragraph 3, "The Church Is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic", Section III, "The Church Is Catholic", #846 (1992 edition, p 244).
No man can find salvation except in the Catholic Church. Outside the Catholic Church one can have everything except salvation. One can have honor, one can have sacraments, one can sing alleluia, one can answer amen, one can have faith in the Name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and preach it too, but never can one find salvation except in the Catholic Church.
-St. Augustine, Sermo ad Caesariensis Ecclesia plebem, (quoted in article "The Perennial Understanding of the Church", by Saint Benedict Center).
It is a sin to believe there is salvation outside the Catholic Church!
-Pope Pius IX, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 2: "The Book of Salvation", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Outside the One True Church").
...nobody can be saved, no matter how much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed his blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and the unity of the catholic church.
-Pope Eugenius IV, in "Bull of Union with the Copts", the Council of Florence, Session 11, on February 4, 1442.
To that Church alone and to those whom she embraces in her bosom and holds in her arms, appertains the invocation of that divine name, outside of which there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved.
-The Catechism of Trent, The First Petition of the Lord's Prayer: "Hallowed Be Thy Name".
The Church of Christ, therefore, is one and the same for ever; those who leave it depart from the will and command of Christ, the Lord-leaving the path of salvation they enter on that of perdition. -Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum (On the Unity of the Church), Encyclical promulgated on June 29, 1896, #5.
Anyone who is out of the (Catholic) Ship is walking a path not to Heaven, but to Hell. He is hurrying to the torment of eternal death!
-St. Fulgentius, "To Euthymius, On the Remission of Sins," Book I, ch.19, no. 2, PL 65:527; also JUR, vol. III:2251a, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 2: "The Book of Salvation", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Outside the One True Church").
Whoever, therefore, have adverse and contrary opinions the Church disapproves and anathematizes and declares to be foreign to the Christian body which is the Church.
-Pope Eugene IV, Cantate Domino, Bull promulgated on February 4, 1441 (Florentine style), proclaimed "ex cathedra" (infallible).
...ought themselves to be separated from the Catholic Church and to be alien from the Christian name.
-St. Athanasius, Encyclical Letter of the Council of Sardica, #49.
Not without sorrow can we hear people continually claiming to love Christ but without the Church; to listen to Christ but not to the Church; to belong to Christ but outside the Church. The absurdity of this dichotomy is clearly evident in this phrase of the Gospel: 'Anyone who rejects you, rejects me.' -Pope Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, No. 16, December 8, 1975.
The Ship of the Church is guided by Christ and by His Vicar...It alone carries the disciples and receives Christ. Yes, it is tossed on the sea but, outside it, one would perish immediately. Salvation is only in the Church; outside it, one perishes.
-Pope John Paul I, from the First Address to College of Cardinals, Aug. 27, 1978, First Address To College Of Cardinals, August 27, 1978; Catholic Almanac, ed. Fr. Felician Foy, OFM, 1979, p. 54 (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 2: "The Book of Salvation", Chapter 1: "There is No Salvation Outside the One True Church").
For it has been delivered to us, that there is one God, and one Christ, and one hope, and one faith, and one Church, and one baptism ordained only in the one Church, from which unity whosoever will depart must needs be found with heretics.
-St. Cyprian, The Epistles of Cyprian, Epistle LXXIII, #11.
Whosoever has cut himself off from the Church of Rome has become an alien to Christianity.
-Pope Boniface I, Epistle Ad Thessalon, LAF, vol IX:57; FOC, p 324 (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 2: "Those Who Reject Christ's Church Are Anti-Christian").
Who is to be called a Christian? He who confesses the salutary doctrine of Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, in His (Catholic) Church. Hence, he who is truly a Christian condemns and detests thoroughly all cults and sects which are found outside the doctrine and Church of Christ, everywhere, and among all peoples, as for example, the Jewish, the Mohammedan, and the heretical cults and sects; and he firmly assents to the same doctrine of Christ.
-St. Peter Canisius, Catechismi Latini et Germanici, (quoted in Gate of Heaven, by sister Catherine Goddard Clark, chatper 1).
There is only one Christian faith, that is: Catholic.
-St. Bridget of Sweden, (quoted in "Book of Revelations, St. Bridget of Sweden", ed. Cardinal John Torquemada, Rome: 1488).
He who falls away from the doctrine and faith of the Catholic Church would not be, nor would even be called, a Christian.
-St. Athanasius, Epistle to Serapion, Book 1:28, PG, 26:522 (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 1: "Only Catholics Can Be Christians").
Consequently, all who wish to reach salvation outside the Church are mistaken as to the way and are engaged in a futile effort….Christianity is, in fact incarnate in the Catholic Church; it is identified with that perfect and spiritual society which is the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ and has for its visible head the Roman Pontiff.
-Pope Leo XIII, (quoted in "Annum Ingressi Sumus, Papal Teachings of the Church", p 652-653; Tametsi, PTC 647).
The holy universal Church teaches that it is not possible to worship God truly except in her and asserts that all who are outside of her will not be saved.
-St. Gregory the Great (Quoted by Pope Gregory XVI in Summo Iugiter Studio (On Mixed Marriages), Encyclical promulgated on May 27, 1832, #5.
One cannot believe in Christ without believing in the (Catholic) Church, the Body of Christ...Faithfulness to Christ implies, therefore, faithfulness to the Church...Be faithful, then, to your faith without falling into the dangerous illusion of seperating Christ from His Church.
-Pope John Paul II, (Quoted in L'Osservatore Romano, June 21, 1980 and November 9, 1981).
Heretics, however, have no fellowship in our discipline, whom the mere fact of their excommunication testifies to be outsiders. I am not bound to recognize in them a thing which is enjoined on me, because they and we have not the same God, nor one--that is, the same--Christ.
-Tertullian, On Baptism, Chapter XV.
They cannot dwell with God who would not be of one mind in God's (Catholic) Church....so neither can he appear as a Christian who does not abide in the truth of His Gospel and of (Catholic) faith....Such a one is to be turned away from and avoided, whosoever he may be, that is separated from the Church. Such a one is perverted and sins, and is condemned of his own self. Does he think that he has Christ...?
-St. Cyprian, On the Unity of the Church, #14.
Therefore, having become His (Catholic) disciples, let us learn to live according to the principles of Christianity. For whosoever is called by any other name besides this, is not of God.
-St. Ignatius of Antioch, The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians, Chapter 10.
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, about 585 (Quoted in "Enchiridion Symbolorum: The Sources of Catholic Dogma", by Henricus Denzinger, par 246, 30th edition).
Oh, how much are worldlings deceived who think to go to Heaven by the wide way that only leadeth to perdition! The path to Heaven is narrow, rough, and full of wearisome ascents, nor can it be trodden without great toil. And therefore, wrong is their way, gross their error, and assured their ruin who, after the testimony of so many thousands of saints, will not learn where to settle their footing! Wrestle no longer against the struggles of your own conscience and the forcible admonitions God doth send you. Embrace His mercy before the time of rigor, and return to His Church lest He debar you His Kingdom. He cannot have God for Father who refuseth to possess the Catholic Church for Mother.
-St. Robert Southwell, LFB, pp.19-20, 259, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 2: "The Book of Salvation", Chapter 3: "Those Outside the Catholic Church Are Lost Forever").
Jesus and the Church are the same thing: indissoluble, inseparable. Christ and the Church are only one thing. It is not possible to say: I believe in Jesus, I accept Jesus, but I do not accept the (Catholic) Church.
-Pope John Paul I, General Audience of September 13, 1978, (published in L'Osservatore Romano).
And He who does not have the Church as his mother, cannot have God as his father…He who does not uphold this unity does not uphold the law of God, does not uphold the faith of the Father and the Son, and has neither life nor salvation.
-St. Cyprian, De Unitate Ecclesiae (Unity of the Church), IV, V, VI: PL IV, 513, 514, 516-20 (Quoted by Pope Pius XII in Meminisse Iuvat (On Prayers For The Persecuted Church), Encyclical Promulgated on July 14, 1958, #22.
It is impossible to be joined to God except through Jesus Christ; it is impossible to be united to Christ except in and through the (Catholic) Church which is His Mystical Body.
-Pope John XXIII, Quotiescumque Nobis, Encyclical Promulgated on June 29, 1961, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 2: "The Book of Salvation", Chapter 2: "Salvation is Found Only in the Catholic Church").
For if we carefully consider the things that pertain to Christ, we shall find that, among those heretics who call themselves Christians, Christ is present in name only: in deed and in truth He is not among them.
-St Aurelius Augustine, The Enchiridion (Handbook) on Faith, Hope and Love, #5: "Answers to Laurentius' Question's", written in 421.
Outside this Body, the Holy Spirit gives life to no one: those who are enemies to unity do not participate in the charity of Divine Life; those outside the Church do not possess the Holy Spirit. The entrance to salvation is open to no one outside the Church!
-Pope Paul VI, General Audience of June 12, 1974, and reported in "The Wanderer", July 4, 1974, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 1: "Only Catholics Can Be Christians").
The Lord severed the Jewish people from His kingdom, and heretics and schismatics are also severed from the kingdom of God and from the Church. Our Lord makes it perfectly clear that every assembly of heretics and schismatics belongs not to God, but to the unclean spirit.
-St. Ambrose, "Expl. of Luke", ch.7, 91-95; PL 15; SS, vol. II, p. 85, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 2: "Those Who Reject Christ's Church are Anti-Christian").
Let such as these take counsel with themselves, and realize that they can in no wise be counted among the children of God, unless they take Christ Jesus as their Brother, and at the same time the (Catholic) Church as their mother.
-Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum (On the Unity of the Church), Encyclical promulgated on June 29, 1896, #16.
...outside the Church there is no Holy Spirit, sound faith moreover cannot exist, not alone among heretics, but even among those who are established in schism.
-St. Cyprian: "Treatise on Rebaptism" 10.
And just as this one Church cannot err in faith or morals...so, on the contrary, all other societies arrogating 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.
-The Catechism of Trent, Article IX : "I Believe in the Holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints".
Therefore, none of the heretics holds the truth; the Church alone is in possession of the truth.
-St. Ambrose, On Psalm 118: Lamed, XIX; FOC, p. 70-71, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 3: "True Faith Can Be Found Only in the Catholic Church").
This is Our last lesson to you: receive it, engrave it in your minds, all of you: by God's commandment salvation is to be found nowhere but in the Church; the strong and effective instrument of salvation is none other than the Roman Pontificate.
-Pope Leo XIII, in 1902, (quoted in "Papal Teachings: The Church", by the Benedictine Monks of Solesmes, St. Paul Editions, Boston, 1962, par. 653).
And you will say also, beloved sons, and you will not weary of repeating what the Vicar of Christ believes and proclaims-not simply as Common Father of all the faithful, but also oas a man of his own time; not simply for the well-being of the Church of which he is the Head, but also for the general good-: that the catholic Church is the irreplaceable support and the sole conserving force of real and genuine Christianity. In fact, what remains outside the Catholic church after the real havoc wrought by the so-called free thought, liberalism, and various pretended reforms, what remains of the doctrine of Jesus Christ transmitted by the Gospel and legitimate tradition? What remains of the sacraments instituted by Jesus Christ? What remains of His Divine Person itself?
-Pope Pius XI, in 1936, (quoted in "Papal Teachings: The Church", by the Benedictine Monks of Solesmes, St. Paul Editions, Boston, 1962, par. 932).
Since truth never contradicts truth, we declare every assertion contrary to the truth of (Catholic) faith to be altogether false; and we strictly decree that all who adhere to errors of this kind are to be shunned and punished as detestable and abominable infidels who disseminate damnable heresies and weaken the Catholic faith.
-Fifth Lateran Council, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 6: "The Book of Sentimental Excuses", Chapter 3: "Speculation in Matters of Faith is Prohibited").
Both the devil and his disciples use the testimonies of Holy Scripture, and vehemently indeed. For, they scarcely ever bring forward anything which they do not try to color with the words of Scripture. Read the tracts of such pests, and you will witness a vast heap of Scriptural examples. Hardly a page is not painted with sentences from the Old or New Testaments. But the more secretively they lurk under the shadows of the divine law, the more are they to be avoided; for they are all false apostles, false prophets, and false teachers, and all of them utterly heretics. Thus, what shall Catholic men do to discern truth from falsehood in the Holy Scriptures? Take very great care to interpret the Scriptures according to the traditions of the universal Church. Within this truly Catholic and Apostolic Church, it is necessary to follow universality, antiquity, and agreement.
-St. Vincent of Lerins, "Commonitoria", no. 29, FOC, p. 354, and no. 25, PL 50:637, FOC, p. 389-390, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 3: "True Faith Can Be Found Only in the Catholic Church").
The mystery of salvation is revealed to us and is continued and accomplished in the (Catholic) Church, and from this genuine and single source...it reaches the whole world. Dear young people, and members of the faithful...we have to be conscious of and absorb this fundamental and revealed truth, contained in the phrase consecrated by tradition: There is no salvation outside the Church. From her alone there flows surely and fully the life-giving force destined, in Christ and in His Spirit, to renew the whole of humanity, and therefore directing every human being to become a part of the Mystical Body of Christ.
-Pope John Paul II, (quoted in L'Osservatore Romano, October 21, 1981).
The true faith of the Catholic Church alone is the true source of salvation, from which all heresies, which have only the name of Christ but not the faith of Christ, have been cut off and separated.
-St. Epiphanius, Anaceph., Book 2, FOC, p.66-67 (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 3: "True Faith Can Be Found Only in the Catholic Church").
Faith in Christ cannot be maintained pure and unalloyed when it is not protected and supported by faith in the (Catholic) Church, 'the pillar and ground of truth'. It is Christ Himself, the ever-blessed God, who erected this pillar of faith. His commandment to hear the Church, to receive in the teaching and commandments of the Church his own teaching and commands, is binding on all men, on every period, and every country. The Church founded by the Redeemer is one-for all peoples and nations.
-Pope Pius XI, in 1937, (quoted in "Papal Teachings: The Church", by the Benedictine Monks of Solesmes, St. Paul Editions, Boston, 1962, par. 934).
Jesus, going into one of the ships that belonged to Simon, asked him to draw back a little; and, sitting down, He taught the multitudes out of the Ship' (Lk. 5:3). The Church is the Ship outside which it is impossible to understand the Divine Word.
-St. Hilary of Poitiers, Commentary on Matthew, Book XII:1, t. 1, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 3: "True Faith Can Be Found Only in the Catholic Church").
How can two or three be gathered in the name of Christ, who it is clear are separated from Christ and His gospel?...Do they who are gathered together outside the Church of Christ think that Christ is with them when they have been gathered together?
-St. Cyprian, The Unity of the Catholic Church, Chapters 12-13.
Now the way to reach Christ is not hard to find: it is the (Catholic) Church.
-Pope Pius X, E Supremi (On the Restoration of All Things in Christ), Encyclical promulgated on October 4, 1903, #9.
People often say, 'It is better to be a good Protestant than a bad Catholic.' That is not true! That would mean that one could be saved without the true faith. No. A bad Catholic remains a child of the family, although a prodigal; and however great a sinner he may be, he still has a right to mercy. Through his faith, a bad Catholic is nearer to God than a Protestant, for he is a member of the household, whereas the heretic is not. And how hard it is to make him become one!
-St. Peter Julian Eymard, (quoted in "The Real Presence, NY: Blessed Sacrament Fathers, 1938, p. 245).
In particular, ensure that the faithful are deeply and thoroughly convinced of the truth of the doctrine that the Catholic faith is necessary for attaining salvation. This doctrine, received from Christ and emphasized by the Fathers and Councils, is also contained in the formulae of the profession of faith used by Latin, Greek, and Oriental Catholics.
-Pope Pius IX, Nostis Et Nobiscum (On The Church In The Pontifical States), Encyclical Promulgated on December 8, 1849, #10.
Whoever wills to be saved, before all things it is necessary that he holds the catholic faith. Unless a person keeps this faith whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish eternally....This is the catholic faith. Unless a person believes it faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.
-Council of Basel (Sometimes called Council of Florence), 1431-1445 A.D.
There is only one true, holy, Catholic church, which is the Apostolic Roman Church. There is only one See founded in Peter by the word of the Lord, outside of which we cannot find either true faith or eternal salvation....The Church clearly declares that the only hope of salvation for mankind is placed in the Christian faith, which teaches the truth, scatters the darkness of ignorance by the splendor of its light, and works through love. This hope of salvation is placed in the Catholic Church which, in preserving the true worship, is the solid home of this faith and the temple of God. Outside of the Church, nobody can hope for life or salvation...
-Pope Pius IX, Singulari Quidem (On The Church In Austria), Encyclical Promulgated on March 17, 1856, #4 & #7.
If they (non-Catholics) would try to heal their hearts by purging them of their vices, they would soon receive light, which would show them the necessity of joining the Catholic Church, where alone is salvation. We should constantly thank the Lord for having granted us the gift of the true Faith, by associating us with the children of the Holy Catholic Church....How many are the infidels, heretics, and schismatics who do not enjoy the happiness of the true Faith! Earth is full of them and they are all lost!
-St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, (quoted in article "EXTRA ECCLESIAM NULLA SALUS (No Salvation Outside the Church), by Our Lady of the Rosary Library).
My faith is the true faith; it is the right faith; it is the faith that leads to Heaven. I was born in that faith, and in that faith I mean to die. But you, be converted and do penance. Give up your schism and submit to our Holy Father, or you will never save your soul!
-St. Andrew Bobola, SKL, p. 129, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 3: "The Book of Faith", Chapter 1, "There is No Salvation Except in the Catholic Faith").
Here, too, our beloved sons and venerable brothers, it is again necessary to mention and censure a very grave error entrapping some Catholics who believe that it is possible to arrive at eternal salvation although living in error and alienated from the true faith and Catholic unity. Such belief is certainly opposed to Catholic teaching.
-Pope Pius IX, Quanto Conficiamur Moerore (On Promotion Of False Doctrines), Encyclical Promulgated on August 10, 1863, #7.
Among these heresies belongs that foul contrivance of the sophists of this age who do not admit any difference among the different professions of faith and who think that the portal of eternal salvation opens for all from any religion....Against these experienced sophists the people must be taught that the profession of the Catholic faith is uniquely true, as the apostle proclaims: one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Jerome used to say it this way: he who eats the lamb outside this (Catholic) house will perish as did those during the flood who were not with Noah in the ark.
-Pope Pius VIII, Traditi Humilitati (On His Program for the Pontificate), Encyclical promulgated on May 24, 1829, #4.
Just as all within the ark were saved and all outside of it were carried away when the flood came, so when all who are pre-ordained to eternal life have entered the (Catholic) Church, the end of the world will come and all will perish who are found outside.
-St. Bede the Venerable, Hexaemeron, (quoted in article "The Perennial Understanding of the Church", by Saint Benedict Center).
This is the teaching of the Catholic truth from which no one can depart without loss of faith and salvation....remain steadfast and without blemish in that faith by which We are united and by which alone We shall obtain salvation.
-Pope Pius XII, Ad Apostolorum Principis (On Communism And The Church In China), Encyclical Promulgated on June 29, 1958, #46 & 53.
By means of religious indifference, crafty men deceitfully pretend that people can attain eternal salvation in the practice of any religion, as though there could be any fellowship of light with darkness. These men conclude that not only sons of the Church but also others, however estranged they may remain from Catholic unity, are equally on the road to salvation and are able to achieve everlasting life. Words fail Us from utter horror in detesting and abhorring this new and terrible insult!
-Pope Pius IX, Ubi Primum, (quoted in The Raccolta, published by the Benzinger Brothers, Boston, 1957, No. 626).
Whosoever will be saved: before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholick Faith. Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled: without doubt he shall perish everlastingly....This is the Catholick Faith: which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.
-Confession of Our Christian Faith, Commonly Called the Athanasian Creed, Quicunque vult.
This true catholic faith, outside of which none can be saved, which I now freely profess and truly hold, is what I shall steadfastly maintain and confess, by the help of God, in all its completeness and purity until my dying breath, and I shall do my best to ensure [2] that all others do the same. This is what I, the same Pius, promise, vow and swear. So help me God and these holy gospels of God.
-Decrees of the First Vatican Council, Papal Oath taken by Pope Pius IV, Second Session, January 6, 1870, Profession of Faith.
Neither faith outside the Church nor the Church without the faith can save us.
-St. Francis de Sales, (quoted in article "True Fod, True Faith, True Church", Si, Si, No, No, June, 1996, #16, by Society of St. Pius X).
If anyone says that the condition of the faithful and those who have not yet attained to the only true faith is alike, so that Catholics may have a just cause for calling in doubt, by suspending their assent, the faith which they have already received from the teaching of the church, until they have completed a scientific demonstration of the credibility and truth of their faith: let him be anathema. -Decrees of the First Vatican Council, Cannons, Section 3, On faith, #6.
This true Catholic faith, without which no one can be saved, I (name) do at this present freely confess and sincerely hold; and I promise most constantly to retain, and confess the same entire and unviolated, with God's assistance, to the end of my life.
-Pope Pius IV, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VIII, The Trentine Creed, or the Creed of Pope Pius IV., a.d.1564.
Next let Us start with the things which concern the faith...You know how zealously Our predecessors taught that very article of faith which these dare to deny, namely the necessity of the Catholic faith and of unity for salvation.
-Pope Gregory XVI, Summo Iugiter Studio (On Mixed Marriages), Encyclical promulgated on May 27, 1832, #5.
You must also care for and defend the Catholic faith with episcopal strength and see that the flock entrusted to you stands to the end firm and unmoved in the faith. For unless one preserves the faith entire and uninjured, he will without doubt perish forever.
-Pope Pius IX, Qui Pluribus (On Faith And Religion), Encyclical Promulgated on November 9, 1846, #19.
Most firmly hold and never doubt that not only pagans, but also Jews, all heretics, and all schismatics who finish this life outside of the Catholic Church, will go into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels....No one, howsoever much he may have given alms, even if he sheds his blood for the name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remains in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.
-St. Fulgentius, De fide ad Petrum 38. 81. CC 91A, p 757, (quoted in article "Is There Salvation Outside the Church?").
Neither sanctity nor salvation can be found outside the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church. -Pope Pius IX, (quoted in The Raccolta, published by the Benzinger Brothers, Boston, 1957, No. 626).
Many Protestants have almost the same practices as we, only they do not submit to the Holy Father and attach themselves to the true Ark of Salvation. They do not want to become Catholics and unite themselves under the banner of truth wherein alone there is true salvation. Of what avail is it, children, if Protestants lead naturally pure, honest lives, yet lack the Holy Ghost? They may well say: 'We do no harm; we lead good lives'; but, if they do not enter the true fold of Christ, all their protestations are in vain.
-St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, "Travels", Chicago: 1944, pp. 84, 71.
Christians, when interrogated, must answer that those who die as infidels (all who are outside of the Catholic Church) are damned.
-Pope Pius X, in Decree of the Holy Office, 1907 (quoted in Gate of Heaven, p. 17).
When we say, ‘Do you believe in eternal life and the remission of sins through the holy Church?’ we mean that remission of sins is not granted except in the Church.
-St. Cyprian: "Letters 69:2."
Without a doubt, the forgiveness of sins is the work of the Holy Spirit and is granted by God, but not independently of the Church founded by Jesus Christ for the salvation of all men."
-Pope John Paul II, "The Wanderer", May 14, 1992, p. 10, col. 4, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 5: "Sacraments Impart No Life Outside the True Church").
If any one saith, that the man who is justified and how perfect soever, is not bound to observe the commandments of God and of the (Catholic) Church, but only to believe; as if indeed the Gospel were a bare and absolute promise of eternal life, without the condition of observing the commandments ; let him be anathema.
-The Council of Trent, Sixth Session, Canon XX.
Wherefore, by divine and catholic faith all those things are to be believed which are contained in the word of God as found in scripture and tradition, and which are proposed by the church as matters to be believed as divinely revealed, whether by her solemn judgment or in her ordinary and universal magisterium. Since, then, without faith it is impossible to please God and reach the fellowship of his sons and daughters, it follows that no one can ever achieve justification without it, neither can anyone attain eternal life unless he or she perseveres in it to the end. So that we could fulfil our duty of embracing the true faith and of persevering unwaveringly in it, God, through his only begotten Son, founded the church, and he endowed his institution with clear notes to the end that she might be recognised by all as the guardian and teacher of the revealed word. To the catholic church alone belong all those things, so many and so marvellous, which have been divinely ordained to make for the manifest credibility of the christian faith.
-Decrees of the First Vatican Council, Third Session, April 24, 1870, Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith, Chapter 3--On Faith.
When we say that faith is necessary for the remission of sins, we mean to speak of the Catholic faith, not heretical faith. Without the habit of this faith, no man is justified.
-St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 3: "The Book of Faith", Chapter 1, "There is No Salvation Except in the Catholic Faith").
That (is) our Catholic faith, without which it is impossible to please God.
-The Council of Trent, Fifth Session.
The (Catholic) Church is the entrance to life; all others are thieves and robbers. On this account we are bound to avoid them....Resist them in defense of the only true and life giving faith, which the Church has received from the Apostles and imparted to her sons.
-St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book III, (quoted in article "The Perennial Understanding of the Church", by Saint Benedict Center).
The Catholic Church alone, then, Christ calls His Spouse. The Church, therefore, is one; this cannot be said amongst any of those who are heretics or schismatics. The churches of every one of the heretics is prostituted; they are churches which Christ repudiates as unnecessary, since He is the Spouse of One Church.
-St. Optatus of Milevis, "Schism of the Donatists," Book I, no's. 6, 10; LAF, vol. II; PL 11; CSL, vol. XXVI, Vienna: 1893; FOC, p.158, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 2: "Those Who Reject Christ's Church Are Anti-Christian").
Not without sorrow have we learned that another error, no less destructive, has taken possession of some parts of the Catholic world, and has taken up its abode in the souls of many Catholics who think that one should have good hope of the eternal salvation of all those who have never lived in the true Church of Christ....But, as is Our Apostolic duty, we wish your episcopal solicitude and vigilance to be aroused, so that you will strive as much as you can to drive from the mind of men that impious and equally fatal opinion, namely that the way of eternal salvation can be found in any religion whatsoever. May you demonstrate with that skill and learning in which you excel, to to the people entrusted to your care that the dogmas of the Catholic faith are in no wise opposed to divine mercy and justice.
For it must be held by faith that outside the Apostolic Roman Church, no one can be saved; that this is the only ark of salvation; that he who shall not have entered therein will perish in the flood..." -Pope Pius IX, in the year 1854, (quoted in "Enchiridion Symbolorum: The Sources of Catholic Dogma", by Henricus Denzinger, par 1646-1647, 30th edition).
[It is error to believe that] Man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation, and arrive at eternal salvation....[It is error to believe that] Protestantism is nothing more than another form of the same true Christian religion, in which form it is given to please God equally as in the Catholic Church.
-Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus (of Errors), Issued in 1864, Section 3--Indifferentism, Latitudinarianism, #16 & #18.
[It is error to believe that] Man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation, and arrive at eternal salvation....[It is error to believe that] Protestantism is nothing more than another form of the same true Christian religion, in which form it is given to please God equally as in the Catholic Church.
-Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus (of Errors), Issued in 1864, Section 3--Indifferentism, Latitudinarianism, #16 & #18.
Those who are seeking the true religion will never find it outside the Catholic Church alone, because in every other religion, if they trace it up to the author, they will find some imposter whose imagination furnished a mass of sophisms and errors.
-St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 3: "True Faith Can Be Found Only in the Catholic Church").
All the more, then, because 'we are fighting for the honor and unity' of the Church, let us beware of giving to heretics the credit of whatever we acknowledged among them as belonging to the Church; but let us teach them by argument, that what they possess that is derived from unity is of no efficacy to their salvation, unless they shall return to that same unity.
-St. Aurelius Augustine, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. IV, Anti-Donatist Writings, Book IV, Chapter 2, #2.
If you ever hear those who are called Christians (outside of the Catholic Church), named, not from the Lord Jesus Christ, but (their church name is called) from some one else....know that it is not Christ’s Church, but the synagogue of Antichrist.
-St. Jerome, Adv. Lucif. fin.
There is no middle way between Catholicism and Atheism; hence, Protestants have abandoned themselves to the extreme of Atheism or Materialism, denying every maxim of the faith. If you take away obedience to the Church, there is no error which will not be embraced.
-St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 3: "True Faith Can Be Found Only in the Catholic Church").
By the heart we believe and by the mouth we confess the one Church, not of heretics but the Holy Roman, catholic, and Apostolic (Church) outside which we believe that no one is saved.
-Pope Innocent III, in the year 1208, (quoted in "Enchiridion Symbolorum: The Sources of Catholic Dogma", by Henricus Denzinger, par 423, 30th edition. See also article "Is There Salvation Outside the Church?".
He who does not have the (Catholic) 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 (true) Church.
-Pope Pius IX, Singulari Quidem (On The Church In Austria), Encyclical Promulgated on March 17, 1856, #4.
For this mother and teacher of all the churches has always preserved entire and unharmed the faith entrusted to it by Christ the Lord. Furthermore, it has taught it to the faithful, showing all men truth and the path of salvation. Since all priesthood originates in this (Catholic) church, the entire substance of the Christian religion resides there also. The leadership of the Apostolic See has always been active, and therefore because of its preeminent authority, the whole Church must agree with it....Whoever does not gather with this Church scatters.
-Pope Pius IX, Qui Pluribus (On Faith And Religion), Encyclical promulgated on November 9, 1846, #11.
All the leaders of heretics have gone out of Christ's Church to the synagogue of Satan, and they have passed over all together, disagreeing in their opposition to the faith, but agreeing in their leaving it.
-St. Jerome, FOC, p 75, note 4, (quoted in The Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 2: "Those Who Reject Christ's Church Are Anti-Christian").
Whosoever is separated from the Church is united to an adulteress. He has cut himself off from the promises of the Church, and he who leaves the Church of Christ cannot arrive at the rewards of Christ....He who observes not this unity observes not the law of God, holds not the faith of the Father and the Son, clings not to life and salvation.
-St. Cyprian, De Cath. Eccl. Unitate, # 6, (Quoted by Pope Leo XIII in Satis Cognitum (On the Unity of the Church), Encyclical promulgated on June 29, 1896, #5.
The Holy, Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Church is the only true Church, outside the pale of which no one can be saved.
-St. Alphonsus Liguori, (quoted in Hail Mary, Full of Grace, published in Still River, MA, 1957, p. 107.).
The exaltation of Holy Church is our exaltation, for in no other place do souls receive life than in that Church. No one can attain to joy in the beauty of God without the help of that sweet Bride, for we must all pass through the gate of Christ Crucified, and that gate is found nowhere but in the Church.
-St. Catherine of Siena, SCS, pp. 200, 201, 380, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 2: "The Book of Salvation", Chapter 3: "Those Outside the Catholic Church Are Lost Forever").
'He who deserts the (Catholic) Church will vainly believe that he is in the (True) Church...'
-Pope Pius IX, Amantissimus (On The Care Of The Churches), Encyclical Promulgated on April 8, 1862, #3.
O Mary, Mother of Mercy and Seat of Wisdom! Enlighten the minds enfolded in the darkness of ignorance and sin, that they may clearly recognize the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church to be the only true Church of Jesus Christ, outside which neither sanctity nor salvation can be found.
-Pope Pius XII in a prayer to Mary, (quoted in The Raccolta, published by the Benzinger Brothers, Boston, 1957, No. 626).
Unless therefore they receive saving baptism in the Catholic Church, which is one, they cannot be saved, but will be condemned with the carnal in the judgment of the Lord Christ.
-Catholic Bishop Nemesianus of Thubunae, The Seventh Council of Carthage Under Cyprian, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V.
Therefore, Baptism without faith avails nothing. If anyone without the right faith receives Baptism outside the Church, he does not receive it unto salvation. Men can receive the Baptism of the Church outside her fold, but no one can receive or keep the salvation of the blessed outside the Church.
-St. Thomas Aquinas, STL III, Q. 68, art. 8, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 5: "Sacraments Impart No Life Outside the True Church").
I decide, that every man who comes to us from heresy must be baptized. For in vain does he think that he has been baptized there (outside of the Catholic Church), seeing that there is no baptism save the one and true baptism in the (Catholic) Church; because not only is God one, but the faith is one, and the Church is one, wherein stands the one baptism, and holiness, and the rest. For whatever is done without, has no effect of salvation.
-Catholic Bishop Primus of Misgirpa: The Seventh Council of Carthage Under Cyprian, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V.
Peter also, showing this, set forth that the Church is one, and that only they who are in the Church can be baptized; and said, 'In the ark of Noah, few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water; the like figure where-unto even baptism shall save you;" proving and attesting that the one ark of Noah was a type of the one Church. If, then, in that baptism of the world thus expiated and purified, he who was not in the ark of Noah could be saved by water, he who is not in the (Catholic) Church to which alone baptism is granted, can also not be quickened by baptism. Moreover, too, the Apostle Paul, more openly and clearly still manifesting this same thing, writes to the Ephesians, and says, 'Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water.' But if the Church is one which is loved by Christ, and is alone cleansed by His washing, how can he who is not in the (Catholic) Church be either loved by Christ, or washed and cleansed by His washing?
-St. Cyprian, Epistle LXXV, #2, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V.
I know only one baptism in the Church, and none out of the (Catholic) Church. This one will be here, where there is the true hope and the certain faith. For thus it is written: 'One faith, one hope, one baptism;' not among heretics, where there is no hope, and the faith is false, where all things are carried on by lying...
-Cathoic Bishop Caecilius of Bilta, The Seventh Council of Carthage Under Cyprian, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V.
Since our Lord Christ says, 'He who is not with me is against me;' and John the apostle calls those who depart from the Church Antichrists--undoubtedly enemies of Christ--any such as are called Antichrists cannot minister the grace of saving baptism.
-Catholic Bishop Secundinus of Cedias, The Seventh Council of Carthage Under Cyprian, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V.
Jesus Christ our Lord and God, Son of God the Father and Creator, built His Church upon a rock, not upon heresy; and gave the power of baptizing to bishops, not to heretics. Wherefore they who are without the (Catholic) Church, and, standing in opposition to Christ, disperse His sheep and flock, cannot baptize, being without.
-Catholic Bishop Fortunatus of Tuccaboris, The Seventh Council of Carthage Under Cyprian, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V.
Outside the unity of faith and love which makes us members of the Church, no one can be saved; hence, if the Sacraments are received outside the Church, they are not effective for salvation even though they be true Sacraments. However, they can become useful if a person returns to Holy Mother the Church, the solitary Spouse of Christ, whose sons alone Christ considers worthy of eternal inheritance.
-St. Bonaventure, BRE, Book 6, ch. 5:4, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 5: "Sacraments Impart No Life Outside the True Church").
God and our Lord Jesus Christ, teaching the apostles with His own mouth, has entirely completed our (Catholic) faith, and the grace of baptism, and the rule of the ecclesiastical law, saying: 'Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' Thus the false and wicked baptism of heretics must be rejected by us, and refuted with all detestation, from whose month is expressed poison, not life, not celestial grace, but blasphemy. -Catholic Bishop Euchratius of Thenae, The Seventh Council of Carthage Under Cyprian, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V.
...sins are not remitted save in the baptism of the (Catholic) Church...
-Catholic Bishop Victor of Gor, The Seventh Council of Carthage Under Cyprian, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V.
If Antichrist (those outside of, and who believe differently than, the Catholic Church) can give to any one the grace of Christ, heretics also are able to baptize, for they are called antichrists.
-Catholic Bishop Saturninus of Avitini, The Seventh Council of Carthage Under Cyprian, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V.
Since there is one baptism in the Catholic Church, it is manifest that one cannot be baptized outside the Church.
-Catholic Bishop Peter of Hippo Diarrhytus,The Seventh Council of Carthage Under Cyprian, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V.
I believe that there is no saving baptism except in the Catholic Church. Whatsoever is apart from the Catholic Church is a pretence.
-Catholic Bishop Pusillus of Lamasba, The Seventh Council of Carthage Under Cyprian, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V.
And as the ark of Noah was nothing else than the sacrament of the Church of Christ, which then, when all without were perishing, kept those only safe who were within the ark, we are manifestly instructed to look to the unity of the Church. Even as also the Apostle Peter laid down, saying, 'Thus also shall baptism in like manner make you safe;' showing that as they who were not in the ark with Noah not only were not purged and saved by water, but at once perished in that deluge; so now also, whoever are not in the (Catholic) Church with Christ will perish outside, unless they are converted by penitence to the only and saving lava (water baptism) of the Church.
-St. Cyprian, Epistle LXXIV, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V.
The comparison of the Church with Paradise shows us that men may indeed receive her baptism outside her pale, but that no one outside can either receive or retain the salvation of eternal happiness. For, as the words of Scripture testify, the streams from the fountain of Paradise flowed copiously even beyond its bounds....Accordingly, though the waters of Paradise are found beyond its boundaries, yet its happiness is in Paradise alone. So, therefore, the baptism of the Church may exist outside, but the gift of the life of happiness is found alone within the (Catholic) Church, which has been founded on a rock, which has received the keys of binding and loosing. 'She it is alone who holds as her privilege the whole power of her Bridegroom and Lord;' by virtue of which power as bride, she can bring forth sons even of handmaids. And these, if they be not high-minded, shall be called into the lot of the inheritance; but if they be high-minded, they shall remain outside.
-St. Augustine, Anti-Donatist Writings, Book IV, #1, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. IV.
Hold most firmly, and never doubt in the least, that outside the Catholic Church the Sacrament of Baptism cannot be of any profit; nay, just as within the Church salvation is conferred through the Sacrament of Baptism upon those who believe rightly, so too, outside the Catholic Church, ruin is heaped up for those who were baptized by that same Baptism, if they do not return to the Church. -St. Fulgentius, On Faith, To Peter, LXXIX, JUR, vol. 3:2273, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 4: "The Book of Christians", Chapter 5: "Sacraments Impart No Life Outside the True Church").
The unity of Christians cannot be otherwise obtained than by securing the return of the separated to the one true (Catholic) Church of Christ from which they once unhappily withdrew....it would be false and foolish to say that Christ's Mystical Body could be composed of separated and scattered members. Whoever, therefore, is not united with it is not a member of it, nor does he communicate with its Head Who is Christ. No one is found in the one Church of Christ, and no one perseveres in it, unless he acknowledges and accepts obediently the supreme authority of St. Peter and his legitimate successors. Did not the very ancestors of those who are entangled in the errors of Photius and the Protestants obey the Roman Bishop as the high shepherd of souls?...Let these separated children return to the Apostolic See...not with the idea or hope that the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth (I Tim. 3, 15) will abandon the integrity of the Faith and bear their errors, but to subject themselves to its teaching authority and rule....May God Our Saviour Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (I Tim. 2, 4) hearken to our ardent prayer and vouchsafe to call back all wanderers to the unity of the Church!
-Pope Pius XI, Pontifex Maximus, Mortalium Animos (The Promotion of True Religious Unity), Encyclical promulgated on January 6, 1928.
Therefore, from the high dignity of this Apostolic See, We paternally exhort all those who glory in the fact that they are Christ's disciples, who place in Him all hope for the salvation not only of individuals but of society, to adhere each day more closely and firmly to the Roman Church. In her alone is christ believed with a faith whole and entire, worshipped with sincere homage of adoration, and loved with the constant flame of ardent charity. Let them remember, especially those who preside over the flock seperated from Us, what was the faith professed by their forbears at Ephesus: the same which this supreme Chair of truth, in the past as in the present, keeps intact and strenuously defends. Let them remember that the unity of the the true faith rests on that unique rock established by Christ, and that this unity can be preserved in full security only by the supreme authority of the successors of Blessed Peter....this certainly could never be the result of an unreal union of many warring elements, but only of a single hierarchy, a single supreme teaching authority, a single rule of belief, and one faith embraced by all Christians. No intelligent man can fail to see this.
-Pope Pius XI, in 1931, (quoted in "Papal Teachings: The Church", by the Benedictine Monks of Solesmes, St. Paul Editions, Boston, 1962, par. 923-924).
[It is error to believe that] In the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other forms of worship.
-Pope Pius IX, The Syllabus (of Errors), Issued in 1864, Section X, Errors Having Reference to Modern Liberalism, July 26, 1855, #77.
There is one, and only one, sure democracy, the Catholicism of the Popes.
-The Catholic World, October, 1937.
The first requirement of salvation is to keep to the standard of the true (Catholic) faith.
-Pope Adrian II, "Actio I," DNZ:171, n. 1, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 3: "The Book of Faith", Chapter 1, "There is No Salvation Except in the Catholic Faith").
Eternal salvation cannot be obtained by those who oppose the authority and statements of the same (Catholic) Church and are stubbornly separated from the unity of the Church and also from the successor of Peter, the Roman Pontiff, to whom "the custody of the vineyard has been committed by the Savior.
-Pope Pius IX, Quanto Conficiamur Moerore (On Promotion Of False Doctrines), Encyclical Promulgated on August 10, 1863, #8.
I will keep in all its purity the Catholic faith and by God's grace persevere in the unity of that faith on which certainly depends the salvation of all Christians.
-St. Boniface, Epistle 16, p. 28 (Quoted by Pope Pius XII in Ecclesiae Fastos (On St. Boniface), Encyclical Promulgated on June 5, 1954, #32.
No one can be saved outside this true Catholic faith.
-Pope Gregory XIII, "Profession of Faith," DNZ:1085; DNZ:1000, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 3: "The Book of Faith", Chapter 1, "There is No Salvation Except in the Catholic Faith").
We pray and conjure you to reflect on the ruin of souls which is wrought by this single cause: ignorance of those most sublime truths, so far beyond the natural understanding of the multitude, which must nonetheless be known by all men alike in order that they may attain eternal salvation....This we solemnly affirm: the majority of those who are condemned to eternal punishment fall into this everlasting misfortune through ignorance of the Mysteries of the Faith which must necessarily be known and believed by all who belong to the Elect.
-Pope Pius X, (quoted in Acts of the Supreme Pontiff Pius X, Rome: Vatican Press, 1904).
And all of us humbly entreat and beseech everyone, all nations and all men in all the earth who are, and who shall be, that we may all of us persevere in the true faith: for otherwise no one can be saved.
-St. Francis of Assisi, SAB, p. 35 (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 3: "The Book of Faith", Chapter 1, "There is No Salvation Except in the Catholic Faith").
Now We consider another abundant source of the evils with which the Church is afflicted at present: indifferentism. This perverse opinion is spread on all sides by the fraud of the wicked who claim that it is possible to obtain the eternal salvation of the soul by the profession of any kind of religion, as long as morality is maintained. Surely, in so clear a matter, you will drive this deadly error far from the people committed to your care....may those fear who contrive the notion that the safe harbor of salvation is open to persons of any religion whatever....Therefore 'without a doubt, they will perish forever, unless they hold the Catholic faith whole and inviolate.'
-Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos (On Liberalism and Religious Indifferentism), Encyclical promulgated on August 15, 1832, #13.
Without this (Catholic) faith, without this confession, no one can enter the kingdom of Heaven.
-St. Bede the Venerable, Sermon 16, PL94:219; SS III:274, (quoted in Apostolic Digest, by Michael Malone, Book 3: "The Book of Faith", Chapter 1, "There is No Salvation Except in the Catholic Faith").
With God's help, your clergy will never have any more pressing anxiety than to preach the true Catholic faith: he who does not keep it whole and without error, will indubitably be lost. They will endeavor, therefore, to favor union with the Catholic Church; for he who is seperated from it will not have life. They will maintain obedience to this sovereign Chair of Peter, in which Christ the Lord laid the foundation of this same Church, and where, consequently, is to be found the entire and perfect stability of the Christian religion.
-Pope Gregory XVI, in 1841, (quoted in "Papal Teachings: The Church", by the Benedictine Monks of Solesmes, St. Paul Editions, Boston, 1962, par. 186).
Wherefore we teach and declare that, by divine ordinance, the Roman church possesses a pre-eminence of ordinary power over every other church, and that this jurisdictional power of the Roman pontiff is both episcopal and immediate. Both clergy and faithful, of whatever rite and dignity, both singly and collectively, are bound to submit to this power by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, and this not only in matters concerning faith and morals, but also in those which regard the discipline and government of the church throughout the world. In this way, by unity with the Roman pontiff in communion and in profession of the same faith, the church of Christ becomes one flock under one supreme shepherd.
This is the teaching of the catholic truth, and no one can depart from it without endangering his faith and salvation.
-Decrees of the First Vatican Council, Fourth Session, July 18, 1870, First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, Chapter 3 "On the power and character of the primacy of the Roman pontiff".
By the ministry of this Church so gloriously founded by Him, He willed to perpetuate the mission which He had Himself received from His Father; and, on the one hand, having put within her all the means necessary for man's salvation, on the other hand, He formally enjoined upon men the duty of obeying His Church as Himself, and religiously taking her as a guide of their whole lives. "He that heareth you, heareth Me; he that despiseth you, despiseth Me". Therefore, it is from the Church alone that the law of Christ must be asked: and consequently, if for man Christ is the way, the Church, too, is the way, the former of Himself and by His nature, the latter by delegation and communication of power. Consequently, all those who wish to reach salvation outside the Church, are mistaken as to the way and are engaged in a vain effort.
-Pope Leo XIII, in 1900, (quoted in "Papal Teachings: The Church", by the Benedictine Monks of Solesmes, St. Paul Editions, Boston, 1962, par. 647).
-Decrees of the First Vatican Council, Fourth Session, July 18, 1870, First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, Chapter 3 "On the power and character of the primacy of the Roman pontiff".
By the ministry of this Church so gloriously founded by Him, He willed to perpetuate the mission which He had Himself received from His Father; and, on the one hand, having put within her all the means necessary for man's salvation, on the other hand, He formally enjoined upon men the duty of obeying His Church as Himself, and religiously taking her as a guide of their whole lives. "He that heareth you, heareth Me; he that despiseth you, despiseth Me". Therefore, it is from the Church alone that the law of Christ must be asked: and consequently, if for man Christ is the way, the Church, too, is the way, the former of Himself and by His nature, the latter by delegation and communication of power. Consequently, all those who wish to reach salvation outside the Church, are mistaken as to the way and are engaged in a vain effort.
-Pope Leo XIII, in 1900, (quoted in "Papal Teachings: The Church", by the Benedictine Monks of Solesmes, St. Paul Editions, Boston, 1962, par. 647).
