Both of these statements are tremendously profound and rich in theological implication.  Moreover they are much more difficult to explain than any other pronouncements of the teaching Church on this subject.  As a matter of fact, they have all too frequently been misinterpreted by Catholic writers who have examined them superficially or who have, in some instances, even accepted translations which were something less than fully adequate.  In both of these docuмents it is imperative to consider the context in which Pope Pius IX placed his statement and explanation of the dogma.

    The pertinent section of the Singulari quadam includes the following paragraphs:

   

Not without sorrow have we seen that another error, and one not less ruinous [than the error of crass rationalism dealt with in the previous section of the allocution], has taken possession of certain portions of the Catholic world, and has entered into the souls of many Catholics who think that they can well hope for the eternal salvation of all those who have in no way entered into the true Church of Christ.  For that reason they are accustomed to inquire time and time again as to what is going to be the fate and the condition after death of those who have never yielded themselves to the Catholic faith and, convinced by completely inadequate arguments (vanissimisque adductis rationibus), they await a response that will favor this evil teaching.  Far be it from Us, Venerable Brethren, to presume to establish limits to the divine mercy, which is infinite.  Far be it from Us to wish to scrutinize the hidden counsels and judgments of God, which are “a great deep,” and which human thought can never pen[e]trate.  In accordance with Our apostolic duty, We wish to stir up your episcopal solicitude and vigilance to drive out of men’s minds, to the extent to which you are able to use all your energies, that opinion, equally impious and deadly, that the way of eternal salvation can be found in any religion (quavis in religion reperiri posse aeternae salutis viam).  With all the skill and learning at your command, you should prove to the people entrusted to your care that this dogma of the Catholic faith is in no way opposed to the divine mercy and justice.

    Certainly we must hold it as of faith that no one can be saved outside the apostolic Roman Church, that this is the only Ark of salvation, and that the one who does not enter it is going to perish in the deluge.  But, nevertheless, we must likewise hold it as certain that those who labor in ignorance of the true religion, if that [ignorance] be invincible, will never be charged with any guilt on this account before the eyes of the Lord.  Now, who is there who would arrogate to himself the power to indicate the extent of such [invincible] ignorance according to the nature and the variety of peoples, regions, talents, and so many other things?  For really when, loosed from these bodily bonds, we see God as He is, we shall certainly understand with what intimate and beautiful a connection the divine mercy and justice are joined together.  But, while we live on earth, weighed down by this mortal body that darkens the mind, let us hold most firmly, from Catholic doctrine, that there is one God, one faith, one baptism.  It is wrong to push our inquiries further than this.

    For the rest, as the cause of charity demands, let us pour forth continual prayers to God that all nations everywhere may be converted to Christ.  And let us do all in our power to bring about the common salvation of men, for the hand of the Lord is not shortened and the gifts of heavenly grace will never be lacking to those who sincerely wish and pray to be comforted in this light.  Truths of this kind must be deeply implanted in the minds of the faithful so that they may not be corrupted by the false doctrines that tend to encourage the religious indifference (doctrinis eo spectantibus, ut religionis foveant indifferentiam) which we see being spread abroad and strengthened to the ruination of souls. [Denz., 1646-48]

    The teaching of the Singulari quadam is of special importance since the allocution was the first “modern” statement by the Roman Pontiff on the dogma that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church.  The intellectual background against which Pope Pius IX taught over one hundred years ago is much the same, fundamentally, as that which exists in our own time.  Hence it is imperative, for a proper understanding of this portion of Catholic teaching, to analyze this statement so as to see exactly what is brought out in this allocution.

    The basic thesis of the Singulari quadam is the assertion that the teaching “no one can be saved outside the apostolic Roman Church” is a dogma of the faith.  It is something to which the assent of faith itself must be given.  As such, it is of course completely infallible.  It is something which can never be corrected or modified.  It must be received as an absolutely true proposition.

    It is interesting, incidentally, to note that Pope Pius IX was faced with a situation quite similar to that which Pope Pius XII described when he wrote his encyclical Humani generis, in August, 1950.  The attack on the dogma of the Church’s necessity for salvation a hundred years ago was not conducted by men who presumed to deny or to suppress the statement that there is no salvation outside the Church.  Their tactic was much more subtle and dangerous: they tried to empty this statement of all real meaning.  They tried to make Catholics believe that there was some hope of salvation for people who had never entered the Church in any way.  The Singular quadam characterizes this contention as a ruinous error.

    Pope Pius XII dealt with a similar situation when he condemned the efforts of those teachers who were trying to reduce the teaching that the Church is necessary for the attainment of eternal salvation “to an empty formula.” [In the encyclical Humani generis.]  Pius IX worked in this direction when he condemned the teaching that there is some hope for the salvation of men who have in no way entered the true Church of Jesus Christ.

    Those who taught inaccurately about the necessity of the Church for salvation a century ago used still another tactic.  They tried to make it appear that there was something unjust about this basic Catholic teaching.  They claimed, directly or by implication, that there was some contradiction between this dogma and the assertions of the faith which teach us that God is all-just and all-merciful.  The allocution Singulari quadam deals with this maneuver also.  Pope Pius IX made it perfectly clear that it is the duty of the hierarchy to prove to the people entrusted to their care that there is no opposition whatsoever between the teaching on the necessity of the Church for the attainment of eternal salvation and the dogmas of the divine justice and mercy.  He presented this teaching, then, as an integral part of true Catholic doctrine.

    As a part of their tactic the opponents of the true Catholic teaching tried to make it appear that a genuine acceptance of the dogma that there is no salvation outside the Church implied the teaching that God would punish men for being invincibly ignorant of the true Church.  Pope Pius IX set out to meet this contention also in the Singulari quadam.  He stated simply that it is certain Catholic truth that God will blame no man for invincible ignorance of the Catholic Church, any more than He will blame anyone for invincible ignorance of anything else.

    Incidentally, on this point, there have been Catholic writers who have been led astray by an incomplete translation of this portion of the Singulari quadam.  The allocution says that people who are invincibly ignorant of the true religion “will never be charged with any guilt on this account before the eyes of the Lord.”  The Latin text reads “. . . qui verae religionis ignorantiam laborent, si ea sit invincibilis, nulla ipsos obstringi huiusce rei culpa ante oculos Domini.”  Some persons have attempted a translation of this passage which takes no account of the words “huiusce rei.”  Such translations tend to present invincible ignorance of the true religion as a sort of sacrament, since they make it appear that the Sovereign Pontiff taught that persons invincibly ignorant of the true religion are simply not blameworthy in the eyes of the Lord.

    The fact of the matter is (and this is the gist of the teaching of Pope Pius IX here and in the encyclical Quanto conficiamur moerore) that non-appurtenance [not being attached or joined – J. G.] to the Catholic Church is by no means the only reason why men are deprived of the Beatific Vision.  Ultimately, the only factor that will exclude a man from the eternal and supernatural enjoyment of God in heaven is sin, either original or mortal.  An infant who dies without having been baptized will not have the Beatific Vision because original sin has rendered him incapable of it.  Any man who dies after having attained the use of reason and who is eternally excluded from the Beatific Vision is being punished for actual mortal sin which he has committed.  Such a man may be further prevented from enjoying the Beatific Vision because of the original sin which has not been deleted by baptism.  Fenton