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Hi William,
Thanks for the question.
To be exact, what you are referring to is in Section No. 3, the fifth paragraph down, where it states:
| Nevertheless, our separated brethren,
whether considered as individuals
or as Communities and Churches,
are not blessed with that unity
which Jesus Christ wished to bestow
on all those who through Him were
born again into one body, and
with Him quickened to newness
of life — that unity which the Holy
Scriptures and the ancient Tradition
of the Church proclaim. For
it is only through Christ's Catholic
Church, which is "the all-embracing
means of salvation," that
they can benefit fully from the
means of salvation. . . . . |
This is true! Other churches have
some truth in them. In that, we can
rejoice, but only partially, because
God wants all mankind to have all
of the Truth.
Despite the
bad behavior in our Church by Church
and lay leaders, the Catholic Church is the only Church
with all of the Truth, and is the sole means
of salvation for all mankind. To help explain that behavior of Catholic members does not effect official Church teachings we use two terms:
- Infallible, and
- impeccable.
When speaking on issues of official faith and morals the pope is Infallible, but because he is a weak man like all of us, outside the scope of official faith and morals, he is not impeccable.
There is not one teaching
you can show me that Christ taught
when on earth as a man that the Catholic
Church still doesn't
teach to this day.
Those who
know the Catholic Church
to be the True Church of Christ,
yet refuse to enter the Church,
cannot be saved!
Those who do
not know this, are
still obligated to seek and be open to the
fullness of truth, which can
only be found in Our Lord's One, Catholic Church.
They fulfill this obligation
through:
- prayer
- reading
- studying
- research, and
- faith-sharing conversations.
If they, through no fault of their
own, are unaware of this fact,
then they are held accountable
by God for what they do know
and understand.
There is one Church,
because there is one Jesus!
Those, who through no fault of their
own, have not heard of the full,
historical Gospel Message can achieve salvation, but it is
only possible through the means of
the Catholic Church and the many
graces She, through Christ, has.
I hope this answers your question.
Mike Humphrey
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