Seven Dogmatic   ARGUMENTS  THAT REFUTE ‘BAPTISM OF DESIRE’

The argument explained above, that ‘baptism of desire’ does not regenerate, and that one must be regenerated to be justified, completely refutes ‘baptism of desire’. Here are seven other dogmatic arguments that refute both ‘baptism of desire’ and ‘baptism of blood’.

First, in every single dogmatic statement on the matter, the Catholic Church understands the words of Jesus Christ Himself in John 3:5 
He prefaced His statement by saying, “Amen, Amen,” indicating that His words were extremely serious and solemn. By understanding those words of Jesus just as they are written, as it does in every dogmatic statement dealing with John 3:5, the Catholic Church infallibly teaches that no one can enter Heaven without being born again of water and the Holy Ghost, as Jesus Himself declared. That contradicts baptism of desire, which posits salvation without rebirth of water and the Holy Ghost.

Second, the Catholic Church infallibly teaches that it’s absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff (Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam). It also infallibly teaches that the Church and the Roman Pontiff do not and cannot exercise jurisdiction over those who have not received the Sacrament of Baptism (see the Council of Trent. Sess. 14, Chap. 2). Since it’s absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the jurisdiction of the Church and the Roman Pontiff, and a human creature cannot be subject to the Church and the Roman Pontiff without receiving the Sacrament of Baptism, it follows that every human creature must receive the Sacrament of Baptism to be saved. There is simply no way around this argument.

Third, in the first dogmatic definition of Outside the Church There is No Salvation, Pope Innocent III at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 infallibly defined that: “There is indeed one universal Church of the faithful, outside of which no one at all is saved.” The Church is dogmatically defined as the faithful, and any salvation outside of the faithful is emphatically excluded with the words nullus omnino (no one at all). Well, only the water baptized are part of the faithful. That’s clear from Church teaching, Tradition and liturgy. The unbaptized, including unbaptized catechumens, were explicitly excluded from the category of the faithful. Consider, for example, the Mass of the Catechumens (the unbaptized) versus the Mass of the faithful (the baptized). Since only the water baptized are part of the faithful, as we learn from Church teaching, Tradition and liturgy, and it’s infallibly certain that there is no salvation whatsoever outside the faithful, as the Church has defined, it follows that there is absolutely no salvation for those not water baptized.

Fourth, the Catholic Church infallibly teaches that no one can be inside the Catholic Church (the Church outside of which no one is saved) without the Sacrament of Baptism. It also teaches that one cannot be a member of the Catholic Church or part of the Body of the Church without the Sacrament of Baptism (see Mystici Corporis, among other things). The teaching that only the baptized are in the Church or members of the Church presents such problems for supporters of baptism of desire that they’ve been forced to invent ridiculous theories, such as that one can supposedly be inside the Catholic Church without being a member of the Catholic Church, and that one can be part of the Soul of the Church without being part of the Body of the Church. Such theories were of course never taught by the Church, and they are indeed contradicted by its infallible decrees. For example, the Church infallibly teaches that all inside the Church are indeed members of the Catholic Church (see Vatican I, among other things, as covered in our video Baptism of Desire Buried). It is therefore false to assert that one can be inside the Church without being a member of the Church. The Church also teaches that only those in the Body of the Church can be saved (see Cantate Domino at the Council of Florence). It’s therefore incompatible with Catholic teaching to maintain that one who is supposedly in the Soul of the Church, but not in the Body of the Church, can be saved. Infallible Catholic teaching on the necessity of Church unity and membership, and how it is inextricably connected to receiving the Sacrament of Baptism, refutes the theory of ‘baptism of desire’ and related false doctrines.

Fifth, in its Creed and in many other magisterial pronouncements, the Catholic Church infallibly teaches that there is only one baptism, not three. It not only infallibly teaches that there is only one baptism, but that there is only one baptism which is celebrated in water. This argument was discussed above. The dogmatic Council of Vienne specifically declared that this one baptism, which is celebrated in water, is what the members of the Catholic Church must faithfully confess. There is no other baptism, according to infallible Catholic teaching. “Moreover, only one baptism regenerating all baptized in Christ – just as ‘one God and one faith’ – is to be faithfully confessed by all, which, celebrated in water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we believe to be the perfect remedy for salvation for both adults and children.” (Pope Clement V, Council of Vienne, 1311-1312)

The same Council teaches that all in the Church have the same baptism: “… one is the universal Church… outside of which absolutely (omnino) no one (nullus) is saved, one is the Lord, one is the Faith and one is the baptism of all.” Consider the two dogmatic statements from The Council of Vienne on baptism as a unit, as points A and B. A. All in the Church (outside of which no one at all is saved) have one and the same baptism; and B. That one baptism (which all in the Church have) is of water. Baptism of desire is therefore false.

Sixth, Pope St. Leo the Great’s dogmatic tome to Flavian (dated to 449), repeated at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, declares that the water of baptism, the spirit of sanctification, and the blood of Redemption are inseparable in sanctification.
The links between the water, the spirit and the blood are such that they cannot be separated in sanctification; whereas the very theories of baptism of desire and blood posit that one can have sanctification separately from water baptism, contradicting that dogmatic teaching of Leo the Great.

Pope St. Leo the Great, dogmatic letter to Flavian, The Council of Chalcedon, 451: “Let him heed what the blessed apostle Peter preaches, that sanctification by the Spirit is effected by the sprinkling of Christ’s blood (1 Pet. 1:2); and let him not skip over the same apostle’s words, knowing that you have been redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your fathers, not with corruptible gold and silver but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, as of a lamb without stain or spot (1 Pet. 1:18). Nor should he withstand the testimony of blessed John the apostle: and the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, purifies us from every sin (1 Jn. 1:7); and again, This is the victory which conquers the world, our faith. Who is there who conquers the world save one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? It is He, Jesus Christ, who has come through water and blood, not in water only, but in water and blood. And because the Spirit is truth, it is the Spirit who testifies. For there are three who give testimony – Spirit and water and blood. And the three are one.
(1 Jn. 5:4-8) IN OTHER WORDS, THE SPIRIT OF SANCTIFICATION AND THE BLOOD OF REDEMPTION AND THE WATER OF BAPTISM. THESE THREE ARE ONE AND REMAIN INDIVISIBLE. NONE OF THEM IS SEPARABLE FROM ITS LINK WITH THE OTHERS.”

Seventh, the bull Exultate Deo at the Council of Florence infallibly and explicitly taught that men cannot enter Heaven without rebirth of water and the Spirit, as the Truth (Jesus Christ Himself) says in John 3:5. The Council of Florence used its own words to present the teaching of John 3:5 as a truth of divine revelation. Therefore, no one enters Heaven without rebirth of water and the Spirit in the Sacrament of Baptism. That’s the infallible teaching of the Catholic Church, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. That contradicts baptism of desire, which posits salvation without rebirth of water and the Spirit.

Pope Eugene IV, The Council of Florence, “Exultate Deo,” Nov. 22, 1439: “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.”

There is also the oldest surviving papal decree in existence. It is the decree of Pope St. Siricius to Himerius. It holds tremendous significance. It constitutes another crushing blow to the false doctrine of ‘baptism of desire’. In his decree, Siricius infallibly teaches that all those who desire water baptism, but die without receiving it, will not be saved. He thus directly denies the concept of ‘baptism of desire’. The pope even speaks of people in danger and necessity who desire water baptism. He teaches that they cannot be saved without water baptism, which he identifies as the unique help of faith. He teaches that being baptized is their only hope of salvation. Pope St. Siricius’ decree is infallible, as our article on it proves. His decree also demonstrates that the Ordinary and Universal Magisterium, in addition to the Solemn Magisterium, directly contradicts the idea of ‘baptism of desire’.

Pope St. Siricius, Decree to Himerius, A.D. 385:

LATIN: “Sicut sacram ergo paschalem reverentiam in nullo dicimus esse minuendam, ita infantibus qui necdum loqui poterunt per aetatem vel his, quibus in qualibet necessitate opus fuerit sacra unda baptismatis, omni volumus celeritate succurri, ne ad nostrarum perniciem tendat animarum, si negato desiderantibus fonte salutari exiens unusquisque de saeculo et regnum perdat et vitam.

“Therefore just as we say that the holy paschal observance is in no way to be diminished, we also say that to infants who will not yet be able to speak on account of their age or to those who in any necessity will need the holy stream of baptism, we wish succor to be brought with all celerity, lest it should tend to the perdition of our souls if the saving font be denied to those desiring it and every single one of them exiting this world lose both the Kingdom and life.”

Quicuмque etiam discrimen naufragii, hostilitatis incursum, obsidionis ambiguum vel cuiuslibet corporalis aegritudinis desperationem inciderint, et sibi unico credulitatis auxilio poposcerint subveniri, eodem quo poscunt momento temporis expetitae regenerationis praemia consequantur. Hactenus erratum in hac parte sufficiat; nunc praefatam regulam omnes teneant sacerdotes, qui nolunt ab apostolicae petrae, super quam Christus universalem construxit Ecclesiam, soliditate divelli.”

Whoever should fall into the peril of shipwreck, the incursion of an enemy, the uncertainty of a siege or the desperation of any bodily sickness, and should beg to be relieved by the unique help of faith, let them obtain the rewards of the much sought-after regeneration in the same moment of time in which they beg for it. Let the previous error in this matter be enough; [but] now let all priests maintain the aforesaid rule, who do not want to be torn from the solidity of the apostolic rock upon which Christ constructed His universal Church.

• As these facts prove to anyone of good will, the Catholic Church teaches that no one can be saved without the regeneration of water and the Spirit in the Sacrament of Baptism. To promote the false idea of ‘baptism of desire’ or ‘baptism of blood’ in the face of these facts is simply to deny Catholic teaching and be of bad will.

Pope Clement V, The Council of Vienne, 1311-1312: “Besides, only one baptism regenerating all who are baptized in Christ must be faithfully confessed by all just as ‘one God and one faith’ [Eph. 4:5], which celebrated in water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit we believe to be the perfect remedy for salvation for both adults and children.”

Pope Eugene IV, The Council of Florence, “Exultate Deo,” Nov. 22, 1439: “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.”

Pope Paul III, The Council of Trent, Can. 2 on the Sacrament of Baptism, Sess. 7, 1547: “Si quis dixerit, aquam veram et naturalem non esse de necessitate baptismi, atque ideo verba illa Domini nostri Iesu Christi: ‘Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu Sancto’ [Io 3, 5] ad metaphoram aliquam detorserit: A.S.”

If anyone should say that real and natural water is not necessary for baptism, and on that account should distort those words of Our Lord Jesus Christ: ‘Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit’ [John 3:5], into some metaphor: let him be anathema.”

Pope Paul III, The Council of Trent, Can. 5 on the Sacrament of Baptism, Sess.

7, 1547: “If anyone says that baptism [the sacrament] is optional, that is, not necessary for salvation: let him be anathema.”


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