God's working in the Church and the world and the relationship between the two have increasingly interested me in the past year and a half. It seems like a complex topic. On that point, Pope Clement XI in Unigenitus (Sept. 8, 1713), section 3 condemned the following proposition (among many others during the Jansenist controversy):
29. Outside of the Church, no grace is granted.
Denzinger: 2429 1379 (old numbering) 29. Extra Ecclesiam nulla conceditur gratia. - Lc 10, 35-36.
Nevertheless, according to Rev. Philip Schaff, who wrote The Creeds of Christendom (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds1.vi.vi.html), the implication of this condemnation must be harmonized with the Catholic dogma "Extra ecclesiam nulla salus" (outside the Church there is no salvation).
I also think of St. Thomas Aquinas's famous argument for the baptism of desire (Summa Th., 3a.68.2). It's based on the following proposition: "God, Whose power is not tied to visible sacraments, sanctifies man inwardly."
Aquinas then continues with the following example: "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 grace he prayed for.' "
For those who have studied the Vatican II documents more thoroughly than I have, it would be interesting to see how all these elements work out. Thoughts? Anyone...?
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