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The tract goes on to refer to an article from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#816) which allegedly refers to "No salvation outside the Church of Rome." The author was probably hoping that he would be trusted and that no one would look up the reference.
#816 - "The sole Church of Christ [is that] which our Savior, after
his Resurrection, entrusted to Peter's pastoral care, commissioning
him and the other apostles to extend and rule it.... This Church,.
constituted and organized as a society in the present world,
subsists in (subsistit in) the Catholic Church, which is governed by the
successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him."
All that needed to be done was to look 3 paragraphs further to find what the Catholic Church actually teaches on this matter: #819 - "Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth" are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: "the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements." Christ's Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him, and are in themselves calls to "Catholic unity." |