the Church has dogmatically taught,
Pope Eugene IV, The Council of Florence, “Exultate Deo,” Nov. 22, 1439, ex cathedra:* “Holy baptism, which is the gateway to the spiritual life, holds the first place among all the sacraments; through it we are made members of Christ and of the body of the Church.* And since death entered the universe through the first man, ‘unless we are born again of water and the Spirit we cannot,’ as the Truth says, ‘enter into the kingdom of heaven’ [John 3:5]. *The matter of this sacrament is real and natural water.” DZ 696
I have provided you just one infallible statement that Water Baptism is needed to become a member of the Catholic Church and that one must be a member of the Catholic Church to enter Heaven. There are many more infallible statements from past Popes and Councils that I can provide for you which makes the same case.
Cristian, now can any of you in this "TRADITIONAL" Catholic Forum provide any infallible dogmatic teachings from any past Popes and Councils which make the claim that Water Baptism is NOT necessary to become a member of the Church and that being a formal member of the Church is also NOT needed ???
Well that the sacrament of Baptism is necessary to be members of the Church was already defined by the Church I don`t think we need to discus it any longer. Besides we both agree.
Regarding the posibility of salvation for those who are not members of the Church I give you 3 reasons:
1) Pius XII M. Corporis
103. As you know, Venerable Brethren, from the very beginning of Our Pontificate, We have committed to the protection and guidance of heaven
those who do not belong to the visible Body of the Catholic Church, solemnly declaring that after the example of the Good Shepherd We desire nothing more ardently than that they may have life and have it more abundantly. Imploring the prayers of the whole Church We wish to repeat this solemn declaration in this Encyclical Letter in which We have proclaimed the praises of the "great and glorious Body of Christ" and from a heart overflowing with love We ask each and every one of them to correspond to the interior movements of grace, and
to seek to withdraw from that state in which they cannot be secure of their salvation.
For even though by an unconscious desire and longing they have a certain relationship with the Mystical Body of the Redeemer, they still remain deprived of those many heavenly gifts and helps which can only be enjoyed in the Catholic Church. Therefore may they enter into Catholic unity and, joined with Us in the one, organic Body of Jesus Christ, may they together with us run on to the one Head in the Society of glorious love. Persevering in prayer to the Spirit of love and truth, We wait for them with open and outstretched arms to come not to a stranger's house, but to their own, their father's home
2) The common teaching of
all theologians and canonists (even canon law itself) affirming you can have the effects of the sacrament of baptism through baptism of blood and of desire. This is Universal and Ordinary Magisterium.
3) How do you interpret the words of Our Lord "Then Jesus said to them: "Amen, amen, I say unto you:
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has everlasting life, and I will raise him up in the last day." (Jn VI, 53-54).
Should we conclude from this that any baptized infant will go to hell because he didn`t receive holy communion? What about those Catholics who die having use of reason and before doing his first communion? Same conclusion...?
Cristian