Martyrdom of Catechumens
There are many proof and evidences that Magisterium and Tradition taught about Baptism of Desire and Baptism of Blood. As we know the story of gospel, when Dismas as the repentant thief who did not have time to receive water baptism when he was crucified with Christ. However, Christ declared to Dismas, the repentant thief, that he would be with Christ (Acts in the Gospel of Luke 23:39-43). This implies a Baptism of Desire. Meanwhile, Christ himself, in his life before his crucifixion, had already taught the necessity of Baptism in John 3:5.
Baptism of Desire is a sign of Love from God who is The All-Merciful and love to everyone and God never allow everyone are going to the Hell or will be punished on Eternal Fire. Sacrament of Baptism is necessary for Salvation, Yes and Catholic Church always teaches it.
This followings from what Catholic Church taught :
1. Council of Trent 1545-1563
Canons on the Sacraments in General: - (Canon 4):
"If anyone shall say that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary for salvation, but are superfluous, and that although all are not necessary for every individual, without them or without the desire of them (sine eis aut eorum voto), through faith alone men obtain from God the grace of justification; let him be anathema."
Decree on Justification - (Session 6, Chapter 4):
"In these words a description of the justification of a sinner is given as being a translation from that state in which man is born a child of the first Adam to the state of grace and of the 'adoption of the Sons' (Rom. 8:15) of God through the second Adam, Jesus Christ, our Savior and this translation after the promulgation of the Gospel cannot be effected except through the laver of regeneration or a desire for it, (sine lavacro regenerationis aut eius voto) as it is written: "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter in the kingdom of God" (John 3:5).
2. St. Alphonsus Liguori 1691-1787
Moral Theology - (Bk. 6):
"But baptism of desire is perfect conversion to God by contrition or love of God above all things accompanied by an explicit or implicit desire for true Baptism of water, the place of which it takes as to the remission of guilt, but not as to the impression of the [baptismal] character or as to the removal of all debt of punishment. It is called 'of wind' ['flaminis'] because it takes place by the impulse of the Holy Ghost Who is called a wind ['flamen']. Now it is de fide that men are also saved by Baptism of desire, by virtue of the Canon 'Apostolicam De Presbytero Non Baptizato' and the Council of Trent, Session 6, Chapter 4, where it is said that no one can be saved 'without the laver of regeneration or the desire for it.'"
3. 1917 Code of Canon Law
On Ecclesiastical Burial - (Canon 1239. 2)
"Catechumens who, through no fault of their own, die without Baptism, are to be treated as baptized."
The Sacred Canons by Rev. John A. Abbo. St.T.L., J.C.D., and Rev. Jerome D. Hannan, A.M., LL.B., S.T.D., J.C.D.
Commentary on the Code:
"The reason for this rule is that they are justly supposed to have met death united to Christ through Baptism of Desire."
4. Pope Innocent III
Apostolicam:
To your inquiry we respond thus: We assert without hesitation (on the authority of the holy Fathers Augustine and Ambrose) that the priest whom you indicated (in your letter) had died without the water of baptism (because wrong form of Baptism), because he persevered in the faith of Holy Mother the Church and in the confession of the name of Christ, was freed from original sin and attained the joy of the heavenly fatherland. Read (brother) in the eighth book of Augustine's City of God where among other things it is written, "Baptism is ministered invisibly to one whom not contempt of religion but death excludes." Read again the book also of the blessed Ambrose concerning the death of Valentinian where he says the same thing. Therefore, to questions concerning the dead, you should hold the opinions of the learned Fathers, and in your church you should join in prayers and you should have sacrifices offered to God for the priest mentioned. (Denzinger 388)
Debitum pastoralis officii, August 28, 1206:
You have, to be sure, intimated that a certain Jew, when at the point of death, since he lived only among Jews, immersed himself in water while saying: "I baptize myself in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."
We respond that, since there should be a distinction between the one baptizing and the one baptized, as is clearly gathered from the words of the Lord, when He says to the Apostles: "Go baptize all nations in the name etc." (cf. Matt. 28:19), the Jew mentioned must be baptized again by another, that it may be shown that he who is baptized is one person, and he who baptizes another... If, however, such a one had died immediately, he would have rushed off to his heavenly home without delay because of the faith of the sacrament, although not because of the sacrament of faith. (Denzinger 413)
5. Pope St. Pius V 1566-1572
Ex omnibus afflictionibus, October 1, 1567:
Condemned the following erroneous propositions of Michael du Bay:
# Perfect and sincere charity, which is from a "pure heart and good conscience and a faith not feigned" (1 Tim. 1:5) can be in catechumens as well as in penitents without the remission of sins.
# That charity which is the fullness of the law is not always connected with the remission of sins.
#A catechumen lives justly and rightly and holily, and observes the commandments of God, and fulfills the law through charity, which is only received in the laver of Baptism, before the remission of sins has been obtained.
Michael Du Bay rejected Baptism of Desire with his statement that desires for good intention and good conscience are not same with the remission of sins, is considerable as rejection to Baptism of Desire.
6. St. Ambrose
"I hear you express grief because he [Valentinian] did not receive the Sacrament of Baptism. Tell me, what else is there in us except the will and petition? But he had long desired to be initiated... and expressed his intention to be baptized... Surely, he received [it] because he asked [for it]." (The Catechumen: An Aid to the Intelligent Knowledge of the Catechism. By J. G. Wenham, Canon of Southwark, and Diocesan Inspector of School pg. 293. 1888.)
7. St. Augustine
City of God
"I do not hesitate to place the Catholic catechumen, who is burning with the love of God, before the baptized heretic... The centurion Cornelius, before Baptism, was better than Simon [Magus], who had been baptized. For Cornelius, even before Baptism, was filled with the Holy Ghost, while Simon, after Baptism, was puffed up with an unclean spirit" (De Bapt. C. Donat., IV 21).
"Baptism is administered invisibly to one whom not contempt of religion but death excludes." (Denzinger 388)
8. St. Thomas Aquinas
Summa, Article 1, Part III, Q. 68:
"I answer that, the sacrament of Baptism may be wanting to someone in two ways. First, both in reality and in desire; as is the case with those who neither are baptized, nor wished to be baptized: which clearly indicates contempt of the sacrament, in regard to those who have the use of the free will. Consequently those to whom Baptism is wanting thus, cannot obtain salvation: since neither sacramentally nor mentally are they incorporated in Christ, through Whom alone can salvation be obtained.
"Secondly, the sacrament of Baptism may be wanting to anyone in reality but not in desire: for instance, when a man wishes to be baptized, but by some ill-chance he is forestalled by death before receiving Baptism. And such a man can obtain salvation without being actually baptized, on account of his desire for Baptism, which desire is the outcome of faith that worketh by charity, whereby God, Whose power is not yet tied to visible sacraments, sanctifies man inwardly. Hence Ambrose says of Valentinian, who died while yet a catechumen: 'I lost him whom I was to regenerate: but he did not lose the graces he prayed for.' "
9. St. Robert Bellarmine, Doctor of the Church 1542-1621
Liber II, Caput XXX:
"Boni Catehecumeni sunt de Ecclesia, interna unione tantum, non autem externa" (Good catechumens are of the Church, by internal union only, not however, by external union).
References continue in the Winter, 2004,
issue of "The Reign of Mary" magazine.
10. Pope Pius IX 1846-1878
Singulari Quadam, 1854:
174. "It must, of course, be held as a matter of faith that outside the apostolic Roman Church no one can be saved, that the Church is the only ark of salvation, and that whoever does not enter it will perish in the flood. On the other hand, it must likewise be held as certain that those who are affected by ignorance of the true religion, if it is invincible ignorance, are not subject to any guilt in this matter before the eyes of the Lord. Now, then, who could presume in himself an ability to set the boundaries of such ignorance, taking into consideration the natural differences of peoples, lands, native talents, and so many other factors? Only when we have been released from the bonds
of this body and see God just as He is (see John 3:2) shall we really understand how close and beautiful a bond joins Divine mercy with Divine justice."
Quanto Conficiamur Moerore, 1863:
"...We all know that those who are afflicted with invincible ignorance with regard to our holy religion, if they carefully keep the precepts of the natural law that have been written by God in the hearts of men, if they are prepared to obey God, and if they lead a virtuous and dutiful life, can attain eternal life by the power of divine light and grace."
11. Pope Pius XII 1939-1958
Mystical Body of Christ, June 29, 1943:
"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 organization 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... For even though unsuspectingly they are related to the Mystical Body of the Redeemer in desire and resolution, they still remain deprived of so many precious gifts and helps from heaven, which one can only enjoy in the Catholic Church."
And many more evidences which explained about Baptism of Desire besides Baptism of Water which is Necessary for Salvation.
So, How about Councils of Braga? Councils of Braga 561 and 572 rejects Delay of Baptism, not Baptism of Desire.
Councils of Braga contained the condemnation of Priscillianism, which has contradiction teaching for Catholic Church.
Priscillianism was Ancient Heresy which holds that any matter and nature are evil, because Priscillianists believe that matter and nature were evil, they became ascetics and fasted on Sundays and Christmas Day which was contradicted with Catholic Church which taught that Sundays are Holidays and Christmas Day is the Day which is not for fasting.
Its teaching influenced Baptism Concept from Priscillianism which was could be delayed because
Angels and the souls of men were said to be severed from the substance of the Deity. Human souls were intended to conquer the Kingdom of Darkness, but fell and were imprisoned in material bodies and So, The salvation of man consists in liberation from the domination of matter like water for example.
Text of First Council of Braga with footnotes
If we see that Priscillianism is Gnostic. And then The First Council of Braga (561) condemned Priscillianists who delayed the Baptism from what Bishop Lucretius gave the statements :
XIII.
Item placuit ut quicumque in clero cibos carnium non utuntur, pro amputanda suspicione priscillianę heresis vel olera cocta cum carnibus tantum pregustare cogantur. Quod si contempserint, secundum quod de talibus sancti patres antiquitus statuerunt, necesse est pro suspitione heresis huius offitio excommunicatus omnimodis removeri.
(It was also decided that whoever among the clergy does not eat meat, in order to eliminate the suspicion of the Priscillian heresy, should be forced to taste only vegetables cooked with meat. But if they disregard what the holy fathers have decided about such things in ancient times, it is necessary that they be excommunicated and removed from their office in every way, in order to eliminate the suspicion of heresy.)
XIV.
Item placuit ut qui heresi aut pro crimine aliquo excommunicantur, nullus eis communicare presumat, sicut et antiqua canonum continent statuta, quae si quis spernit voluntarię seipsum alienum communione facit.
(Likewise, it was decided that no one should presume to communicate with those who are excommunicated for heresy or for some crime, just as the ancient canons contain statutes that if anyone voluntarily rejects communion, he makes himself a stranger to it.)
XV.
Item placuit ut his qui sibi ipsis aut per ferrum aut per venenum aut precipitium, aut suspendium, vel quolibet modo violentię inferunt mortem nulla pro eis in oblatione commemoratio fiat, neque cum psalmis ad sepultura eorum cadevera deducantur. Multi enim sibi hoc per ignorantia usurpant. Similiter et de his placuit fieri qui pro suis sceleribus puniuntur.
(Likewise it was decided that for those who inflict death on themselves either by sword or by poison or by falling or hanging, or by any other means of violence, no commemoration should be made for them in the oblation, nor should their corpses be taken to burial with psalms . For many use this for themselves through ignorance . It was decided that the same should be done for those who are punished for their crimes) .
XVI.
Item placuit ut caticuminis sine redemptione baptismi defunctis, simili modo oblationis commemoratio, neque psallendi impedatur offitio, nam et hoc per ignorantiam usurpatum est.
(Likewise, it was decided that for those Catechumens who have died without the redemption of baptism, the commemoration of the offering in a similar way, nor the service of psalm singing, should be prevented , for this too was usurped through ignorance.)
XVII.
Item placuit ut corpora defunctorum nullo modo intra basilicam sanctorum sepeliantur, sed si necesse est de foris circa murum basilicae usque ad eum non abhorret. Nam si firmissimum hoc privilegium usque nunc retinent civitates, ut nullo modo intra ambitum murorum cuiuslibet defuncti corpus sit humatum, quanto magis hoc venerabilium martyrum debet reverentia optineri.
( It was also decided that the bodies of the deceased should in no way be buried within the basilica of the saints, but if necessary, outside, around the wall of the basilica, up to it, it should not be amiss. For if cities still retain this most firm privilege, that in no way should the body of any deceased be buried within the walls, how much more should this be maintained out of reverence for the venerable martyrs.)
XVIII.
Item placuit, ut si quis presbiter post hoc interdictum ausus fuerit crisma benedicere aut eclesiam aut altarium consecrare a suo offitio deponatur, nam et antiqui hoc canones vetuerunt.
(It was also decided that if any priest dared to bless chrism or consecrate a church or altar after this interdict, he should be deposed from his office, for the ancient canons also forbade this)
XIX.
Item placuit ut ex laico ad gradum sacerdotii nemo veniat nisi prius anno integro in offitio lectorum vel diaconatus disciplinam ecclesiasticam discat, et sic per singulos gradus eruditus ad sacerdotium veniat. Nam satis reprehensibile est, ut qui necdum didicit, iam docere praesumat. Dum et antiquis hoc patrum institutionibus interdictum sit.
(It was also decided that no layman should come to the rank of priest unless he first learns ecclesiastical discipline for a full year in the office of lector or diaconate, and thus, having learned through each degree, comes to the priesthood. For it is quite reprehensible that one who has not yet learned should presume to teach. While this was forbidden by the ancient institutions of the Fathers.)
From above all, we can take the important points that Priscillianism besides taught the Delay of Baptism and reject the Baptism for Catechumens, this Heresy also taught that layman could come to the rank of Priest as for example the woman, Vegetarianism, and then against materialism Concept with its teaching that Matter and natures are evil.
About matters as Evil, The parallels that Jerome desired to make between the Montanists and Priscillianists seemed to be the following. (For more know about Montanism, you can read it : https://romancatholictraditional.blogspot.com/2024/12/heresy-of-montanism-history-and.html?m=1) Earlier in section three of Letter 133 Jerome said Priscillianists are rash enough to claim for themselves the twofold credit of perfection and wisdom. When Priscillian was blamed for leading women astray, these were usually socially high bom and wealthy, like Prisca and Maximilla. Sulpicius Severus similarly attributed to the Priscillianists bribery and other forms of irresponsible uses of money to buy influence and power. The ‘unclean spirit’ that spoke through Montanus was Jerome’s way of establishing the satanic origins of both Montanists and Priscillianists. The prominent role of women in both sects is all too obvious. Equally significant was the widely held tradition that Montanus and Maximilla committed suicide and died a tragic death, as all heretics, figuratively speaking, ultimately do. In both incidents the heretics met death and Jerome’s statement that Priscillian was condemned by the whole world and put to death by the secular sword as their hates to the matter like water for baptism.
Second Council of Braga about Importance of Baptism
On Second Council of Braga Chapter VII, St. Martin of Dume stated :
VII Placuit ut unusquisque episcopus per eclesias suas hoc pręcipiat ut hi qui infantes suos ad baptismum offerunt si quid voluntariae pro suo offerunt voto, suscipiatur ab eis. Si vero per necessitatem paupertatis aliquid non habent quod offerant, nullum illi pignus violenter tollatur a clericis. Nam multi pauperes hoc timentes filios a baptismo retrahunt, qui forte differunt si sine gratia baptismi de hac vita recesserint necesse est ut ab illis eorum perditio requiratur, quorum spolia pertimescentes baptismi gratia se retraxerunt.
(It was decided that each bishop should order through his churches that those who offer their infants for baptism, if they offer anything voluntarily in return for their vow, should be accepted by them. But if through the necessity of salvation but they do not have anything to offer, no pledge should be forcibly taken from them by the clerics. For many poor people, who fear to this, withdraw their children from baptism, which perhaps they delay it if they depart from this life without the grace of baptism. It is necessary for the destruction of those whose spoils, because many poor people who were fearing the grace of baptism, have withdrawn themselves from baptism.)
So, above that statement, St. Martin had explained on 572, that delay of baptism with offering to the poor man with fee or bribery, this is condemned. Not for Baptism of Desire. You can read next chapters after Chapter VII on Second Council of Braga which explains about Priscillians faults like bribery and sexual abuse.
First Council of Braga for example forbids unbaptized Catechumens would be buried when they were indicated as Heretics who delayed for their baptism immediately.
Pope Eugenius also taught that it's not just water of Baptism, but The Spirit of Baptism like desire is also saves the souls.
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.”
Divine Mercy is not limited with water itself, but Divine Mercy is unlimited, besides Baptism of Water, also with Baptism of Desire and Blood.
So it is clear that the teaching of Feeneyism is heretical and erroneous. Because it is against the Catholic Magisterium and Traditions. And regarding Feeneyism pioneered by a priest named Fr. Leonard Feeney, it has been condemned in the Catholic Church for rejecting Baptism of Desire:
" Your Excellency,
This Supreme Sacred Congregation has very carefully followed the beginning and the continuation of the serious controversy raised by certain associates of the St. Benedict Center and of Boston College, concerning the interpretation of tie maxim: "Outside the Church, no salvation".
After having examined all the necessary and useful documents on this subject — among others the file sent by your chancellery, the appeals and reports wherein the associates of the St. Benedict Center expound their opinions and objections, besides many other documents referring to this controversy, collected through the official channels, — the Sacred Congregation has reached the certitude that this unfortunate question was raised because the principle "outside the Church no salvation" has not been well understood or examined and the controversy has become envenomed as a result of a serious lack of discipline on the part of certain members of the aforementioned associations, who have refused to give respect and obedience to the legitimate authorities.
Consequently, the most Eminent and most Reverend cardinals of our Supreme Congregation decreed in plenary session on Wednesday 27 July 1949, and the Sovereign Pontiff, in an audience on the following Thursday, 28 July 1949, deigned to approve the sending of the following doctrinal explanations, invitation and exhortations:
We are obliged by the divine and Catholic faith to believe all those things contained in the Word of God, Scripture or Tradition, and proposed by the Church for our faith as divinely revealed, not only by solemn definition but also by her ordinary and universal magisterium (Denziger n. 1792). Now, amongst those things which the Church has always preached and will never cease to teach, there is also this infallible declaration which says that there is no salvation outside the Church.
This dogma, however, has to be understood in the sense attributed to it by the Church herself. The Saviour, in fact, entrusted explanation of those things contained in the deposit of faith, not to private judgement, but to the teaching of the ecclesiastical authority.
Now, in the first place, the Church teaches that in this matter there exists a very strict mandate from Jesus Christ, for He explicitly commanded his apostles to teach all nations to observe all things which He Himself had ordered (Matthews 28:19-20).
The least of these commandments is not that which orders us to be incorporated through baptism into Christ's Mystical Body, which is the Church, and to remain united with Him and with His Vicar, through whom, He Himself governs his Church in visible manner here below, That is why no one will be saved if, knowing that the Church is of divine institution by Christ, he nevertheless refuses to submit to her or separates himself from the obedience of the Roman Pontiff, Christ's Vicar on earth.
Not only did our Saviour order all peoples to enter the Church, but He also decreed that it is the means of salvation without which no one can enter the eternal kingdom of glory.
In his infinite mercy, God willed that, since it was a matter of the means of salvation ordained for man's ultimate end, not by intrinsic necessity, but only by divine institution, its salutary effects could also be obtained in certain circumstances when these means are only objects of "desire" or of "hope". This point was clearly established at the Council of Trent, with regard to both the sacrament of baptism and of penance (Denziger, n. 797 and 807).
The same must be said of the Church, as a general means of salvation. That is why for a person to obtain his salvation, it is not always required that he be de facto incorporated into the Church as a member, but he must at least be united to the Church through desire or hope.
However, it is not always necessary that this hope be explicit as in the case of catechumens. When one is in a state of invincible ignorance, God accepts an implicit desire, thus called because it is implicit in the soul's good disposition, whereby it desires to conform its will to the will of God. "
("On the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ" Commentary by Pope Pius XII with Cardinals (A.A.S., vol. XXXV, 1943, p. 193 and sq.)
Pope Pius XII
So, Baptism of Desire, and then Invincible Ignorance, applies to Catechumens, those who already know the truth of the Catholic Faith but are not baptized explicitly or do not have the time to become catechumens implicitly. This means that death is approaching but they do not have the time to become catechumens.
An example of an Implicit Desire is a person who, after learning the truth of Christianity and understanding the True God, attempts to attend a seminary or church to become a catechumen, but is taken by death, or dies without learning the catechism to become a Catholic for de facto.
Or the Jews who lived before the time of Christ and the non-Jewish figures of faith in the Old Testament, who knew the One God, then carried out the Law of the Torah (for the Jews) and carried out the Law of Noah (for the non-Jews as long as they did not worship idols, did not commit adultery, did not steal, and did not commit other violations), they are included in this category, because implicitly they do not know who the Messiah will come, what the name of the Messiah is and who the mother of the Messiah is. But they believe the Messiah and still waiting for him.
Pope Siricius
“It would tend to the ruin of our souls if, from our refusal of the saving font of baptism to those who seek it, any of them should depart this life and lose the kingdom and eternal life” (Letter to Himerius 3, By Pope Siricius [A.D. 385]).
Pope Siricius and Pope St. Leo the Great were not actually opposed to Baptism of Desire, but to the rejection of Baptism and the Delay of baptism.
So, it's clear that they were opposing the Delay of Baptism (DOB) , not Baptism of Desire (BOD).
St. Gregory of Nazianzen also emphasized that catechumens, both Jews and Gentiles who intended to become followers of Christ, should study the catechism for only 40 days. In fact, as we read in the Catechism of the Council of Trent for interpretation of Acts 8:26-40, The Ethiopian eunuch, a high-ranking official, was returning from Jerusalem and reading the book of Isaiah when Philip, guided by an angel, encountered him. Philip explained the scripture, leading the eunuch to believe in Jesus and request baptism, so then went to a body of water, and on same day at that time Philip baptized him. So, the Eunuch is not waiting for 6 months, one year, two years, three years, and then 40 days is not.
Meanwhile, the heretical hierarchy of Vatican II has been delaying baptism with extremely stringent rule conditions. It's no surprise that R&R groups like the SSPX, under the current Bishop Fellay, are also imposing similar requirements, requiring catechumens to wait long before receiving baptism.
Vatican II, which we see as a modernist heretical sect, even considers Baptism of Desire and Invincible Ignorance to be teachings that misguide and distort the true meaning of both terms. (For more know about Second Vatican Council is Heresy, please read it : https://romancatholictraditional.blogspot.com/2025/05/is-second-vatican-council-catholic.html?m=1 )
Vatican II lacks an evangelistic spirit because, for this heretical sect, God is taught by them (Vatican II adherents) as All-Loving. Therefore, if a pagan is not baptized or does not know the truth of the Faith, they will still enter the Heaven even if they worship idols and engage in sexual promiscuity in their false gods, because they are considered "invincible ignorance." This view of the Vatican II sect is clearly misleading and Heresy. All pagans will go to Hell unless they abandon their idolatry and begin to know the true God and the Messiah, but not until they become catechumens and die. That is the truth regarding Baptism of Desire and Invincible Ignorance.
And we are sadly shocked by the heretical statements and understanding of a Bishop from a Traditional Congregation like the SSPX who can make heretical statements like Bishop Fellay, where he is influenced by Modernist doctrine and tries to reconcile with Rome by tolerating several heresies.
Bishop Fellay from R&R (SSPX)
Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of SSPX, Conference in Denver, Co., Feb. 18, 2006: “We know that there are two other baptisms, that of desire and that of blood. These produce an invisible but real link with Christ but do not produce all of the effects which are received in the baptism of water… And the Church has always taught that you have people who will be in heaven, who are in the state of grace, who have been saved without knowing the Catholic Church. We know this. And yet, how is it possible if you cannot be saved outside the Church? It is absolutely true that they will be saved through the Catholic Church because they will be united to Christ, to the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Catholic Church. It will, however, remain invisible, because this visible link is impossible for them. Consider a Hindu in Tibet who has no knowledge of the Catholic Church. He lives according to his conscience and to the laws which God has put into his heart. He can be in the state of grace, and if he dies in this state of grace, he will go to heaven.”
This is Blatant Heresy statement, Bishop Fellay from R&R position (SSPX) said that Pagan can be Saved. Catholic Church answers No, Hindus are going to the Hell because they worship false gods which is contradicted with the Divine Laws. There is no Invincible Ignorance or Baptism of Desire to Hindus. Baptism of Desire is only for catechumens who want to be a Catholic but aren't baptized with water immediately when they were met with immediate death, and Invincible Ignorance is only for peoples who don't know about who is the Messiah, but He/She still believes on One God and worship HIM only, kept away from Idolatry, from, adultery, from any bad morals, but lived before Christ or before evangelization has come, but He lived with obey to natural laws which were compatible with Divine Law. For example Old Testament figures from Jews or Non-Jews who didn't know about who is Messiah name, who is Messiah's Mother, but they still do what LORD commanded before Christ.
Pope Innocent III
But, the Same Pope who taught Baptism of Desire, Pope Innocent III, with other Popes, clearly taught that There is no Salvation outside Catholic Church :
“There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved.” (Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215.)
“We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” (Pope Boniface VIII, the Bull Unam Sanctam, 1302.)
“The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church.” (Pope Eugene IV, the Bull Cantate Domino, 1441.)
