Also, St. Robert Bellarmine has said that geocentrism is de fide but this idea was later contradicted by Pope Benedict XV who said that the Earth may not be the center of the Universe. What is your opinion on this?

What is your opinion on this?

You misunderstand the context of the words of the Pope. Read the whole of what he was saying and you will see that he was speaking of a hypothetical situation. He did not say that the situation could actually happen.

You posted before I finished editing my post, so the rest of my answer is in it.

Sometimes, when speaking of an impossible situation, we say: "Even if that could happen, then..." etc. This is the context in which he was speaking. It becomes quite clear when reading the whole passage.

You posted before I finished editing my post, so the rest of my answer is in it.

Sometimes, when speaking of an impossible situation, we say: "Even if that could happen, then..." etc. This is the context in which he was speaking. It becomes quite clear when reading the whole passage.

Let me quote the entire passage. I have read the whole thing you know.

4. And first of all, inasmuch as the divine poet throughout his whole life professed in exemplary manner the Catholic religion, he would surely desire that this solemn commemoration should take place, as indeed will be the case, under the auspices of religion, and if it is carried out in San Francesco in Ravenna it should begin in San Giovanni in Florence to which his thoughts turned during the last years of his life with the desire of being crowned poet at the very font where he had received Baptism. Dante lived in an age which inherited the most glorious fruits of philosophical and theological teaching and thought, and handed them on to the succeeding ages with the imprint of the strict scholastic method. Amid the various currents of thought diffused then too among learned men Dante ranged himself as disciple of that Prince of the school so distinguished for angelic temper of intellect, Saint Thomas Aquinas. From him he gained nearly all his philosophical and theological knowledge, and while he did not neglect any branch of human learning, at the same time he drank deeply at the founts of Sacred Scripture and the Fathers. Thus he learned almost all that could be known in his time, and nourished specially by Christian knowledge, it was on that field of religion he drew when he set himself to treat in verse of things so vast and deep. So that while we admire the greatness and keenness of his genius, we have to recognize, too, the measure in which he drew inspiration from the Divine Faith by means of which he could beautify his immortal poems with all the lights of revealed truths as well as with the splendours of art. Indeed, his Commedia, which deservedly earned the title of Divina, while it uses various symbolic images and records the lives of mortals on earth, has for its true aim the glorification of the justice and providence of God who rules the world through time and all eternity and punishes and rewards the actions of individuals and human society. It is thus that, according to the Divine Revelation, in this poem shines out the majesty of God One and Three, the Redemption of the human race operated by the Word of God made Man, the supreme loving-kindness and charity of Mary, Virgin and Mother, Queen of Heaven, and lastly the glory on high of Angels, Saints and men; then the terrible contrast to this, the pains of the impious in Hell; then the middle world, so to speak, between Heaven and Hell, Purgatory, the Ladder of souls destined after expiation to supreme beatitude. It is indeed marvellous how he was able to weave into all three poems these three dogmas with truly wrought design. If the progress of science showed later that that conception of the world rested on no sure foundation, that the spheres imagined by our ancestors did not exist, that nature, the number and course of the planets and stars, are not indeed as they were then thought to be, still the fundamental principle remained that the universe, whatever be the order that sustains it in its parts, is the work of the creating and preserving sign of Omnipotent God, who moves and governs all, and whose glory risplende in una parte piu e meno altrove; and though this earth on which we live may not be the centre of the universe as at one time was thought, it was the scene of the original happiness of our first ancestors, witness of their unhappy fall, as too of the Redemption of mankind through the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ. Therefore the divine poet depicted the triple life of souls as he imagined it in a such way as to illuminate with the light of the true doctrine of the faith the condemnation of the impious, the purgation of the good spirits and the eternal happiness of the blessed before the final judgment.

Benedict XV did not say "Even if". He merely said "If" which leaves me quite worried.

Where in Scripture might we read that the earth is the center of the universe or that there is a center?

I hate to quadruple post but I can't edit my posts anymore.

I'd like to know if those who have not received the Sacrament of baptism can be considered inside of the Church? Can we say that those who are "baptised by desire" are apart of the faithful?

.. and this.

One of my old posts:

Articles of Interest:


Baptism of Desire and of Blood
MATER DEI SEMINARY newsletter "Adsum" (January, 2004)

http://www.traditionalcatholic.net/Tradition/Information/Baptism_of_Desire.html


Baptism of Desire and Theological Principles

http://www.traditionalmass.org/images/articles/BaptDes-Proofed.pdf


Baptism of Desire: An Exchange

http://www.traditionalmass.org/articles/article.php?id=28&catname=2

Quote from: Telesphorus

I don't define Church membership as belonging only to those who have been baptized with water.

This contradicts Pope Pius' teaching in Mystici Corporis Christi:

http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius12/P12MYSTI.HTM

Quote

22. Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed.

What the deal is, is that it is not absolutely necessary to be a member of the Church to belong to the Church.

Two more links of interest:

Membership in the Church, Mons. Fenton Articles

http://www.cathinfo.com/catholic.php/Membership-in-the-Church-2

Letter of the Holy Office

http://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/cdffeeny.htm

It's necessary for salvation for a person to belong to the soul of the Church in actuality, and the body of the Church at least in desire, and this desire can be implicit.

I have in my personal library here at home, about 20 catechism books, all approved by the Church and all published prior to Vatican II.  I think it is wise to believe what they say; that BOD and BOB are valid avenues of saving your soul.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever and if the people in the Old Testament can save their soul by loving God, then if necessary so can people today.

 

That really does not answer my question of whether or not you were saying baptism of desire is a dogma of the faith.

Of course if someone is not Baptized they should not delay another minute, because Bapism is a sacrament of the Church, while BOD and BOB are not sacraments.  

You know, despite your arguments (which unfortunately don't convince me in the slightest bit), I suppose I can see why - in a way - baptism of desire could work. After all (and this just hit me), a Catholic can have their sins forgiven just by their desire to be in the friendship of God again (perfect contrition), but they still must have the intention of confessing their sins.. even if they do die an "unforeseen" death. At the same time confession is not quite the same because those able to confess are baptized.

What I'm really having trouble with is understanding just how baptism of desire could work. If natural water is a necessity of baptism, how can they be saved without it? Would God somehow slow down time (or something of the sort), have an angel minister water to the person and baptise them before death, or do you people have a different idea in mind?