The Apostolic See
Papacy of the Roman Catholic Church
Boniface X, Servant of the Servants of God
Welcome to the internet address of the papacy of the Holy Catholic Church, currently under the jurisdiction of Bonifatius PP. X servus servorum Dei.
The Vatican II sect (1958- present) currently headed by Antipope Leo XIV (2025-present), thought by most to be Catholic Church, is in fact a counter-church, a counterfeit sect that denies the ancient dogmas of the faith and the ecumenical councils of the true Pontiffs. These are the teachings of the true Pontiff Boniface X, the true occupant of the Apostolic See.
Recent Revisions:
Part IX to the Baptism Catechism– Particulars Regarding the Baptism of Infants
January 29, 2026
New Common Questions
January 18, 2026
Clarifications Made to Q14 (Regarding Baptism of Monsters, Distinguishing Between Early Fetuses and Monsters) in the Private Treatise Catechism on Baptism, Elaborated on Questions 34 and 35, and added a Question 36 (Siricius and Leo the Great’s statements on baptism), 37, 38, (Various Dogmas Misunderstood by Heretics)
January 16, 2026
Catechism on Baptism (against anti-baptism of desire schismatics) has been expanded significantly
January 4, 2026
Enhancements Made to the Decrees Below (Index.html)
December 31, 2025 and January 3, 2026
Requests for Details Concerning the Supreme Pontiff
December 31, 2025
Catechism on Baptism
December 21, 2025
We pray for the assistance of the Holy Spirit, which gives to all that sweet aroma (2 Cor 2:15) and facility to be attracted unto and cling to the Truth Itself. The Holy Spirit, pulls by grace on the hearts of men, opening their eyes, guiding them into light and out of darkness, and will guide man into the whole Truth by the will of the Father, and We are His chief instrument in the Church on earth, as it is written “But the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in Him.” (1 John 2:27) And again, as it was DECLARED “it was God’s will that there should be linked to the internal assistance of the Holy Spirit external indications of his revelation”. -Vatican I, S3, C2 Therefore, as the Roman Pontiff, the Servant of the Servants of God, Boniface X, I beg God to give all that read these writings that attraction to the truth, outside of which there is neither salvation nor remission of sins.
And again…
“yet no one can accept the gospel preaching in the way that is necessary for achieving salvation without the inspiration and illumination of the Holy Spirit who gives to all facility in accepting and believing the truth” (Pius IX, Vatican I).
Once a man has obtained to holding the dogmas by supernatural faith, it can never be justified to doubt it or called it question..
“This faith, which is the beginning of human salvation, the catholic church professes to be a supernatural virtue, by means of which, with the grace of God inspiring and assisting us, we believe to be true what He has revealed, not because we perceive its intrinsic truth by the natural light of reason, but because of the authority of God himself, who makes the revelation and can neither deceive nor be deceived… Consequently, the situation of those, who by the heavenly gift of faith have embraced the catholic truth, is by no means the same as that of those who, led by human opinions, follow a false religion; for those who have accepted the faith under the guidance of the church can never have any just cause for changing this faith or for calling it into question.” (Pius IX, Vatican I)
Of course…
at no time does this inspiration or illumination disclaim the force of the external proofs, which prove, beyond all reasonable doubt, the truth of the Catholic Faith, first in that God can be known to exist with certainty by proofs from the things that have been made,
“The same holy mother church holds and teaches that God, the source and end of all things, by the natural power of human reason can be known with certainty from the consideration of created things” (Pius IX, Vatican I),
and some have held that God can even be shown by proofs apriori; and secondly that the revealed teaching of God can be shown to be from God through the accumulation of probabilities, that the revelation God deposited with His Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is the most probable of all possible revealed messages from God as shown through all available testimony, miracles, and the observed physical facts- for God can neither deceive nor be deceived.
The Roman Pontiff continues to work on various treatises and engage in important studies. We thank God for special privileges God granted the White Caucasian race to be the race most drawn to the Catholic Faith by His grace, more than the other races, through Noah when he blessed his son Japheth (father of the Roman Empire and the White race) above the other two sons (Shem (Brown races) and Ham (Dark races)) in the ninth chapter of Genesis. This was further taught and confirmed by Pius IX in his infallible Book of Indulgences, granting remission of temporal punishment to all who partake in its prayers, “Let us pray for the wretched Ethopians in central Africa, that Almighty God may at length remove the curse of Ham from their hearts, and grant them the blessing to be found only in Jesus Christ, Our God and Lord” -Pius IX, Raccolta or the Book of Indulgences, p. 413, 1878. Having the curse of Ham it is more difficult for them to come to the Truth, although they are obligated, like all, to come to and hold to the Truth. Likewise, the Jews in the prayers of the Church were known as perfidious, an accursed race where a curse of blindness regarding matters of ultimate truth come upon them in large measure. But they too, have sufficient grace to be saved, if they do not resist. In all cases, supernatural faith is the gift of God, for the will can cooperate with actual grace to guide one to the waters of baptism and to the faith, and the reception of the waters and the faith is the work of God. Colonialism and imperialism by the European races were the gifts of God to the world to spread the gospel, which the world has now rejected to its damnation.
There is No Salvation Outside of the Catholic Church
Innocent III
“By the heart we believe and by the mouth we confess the one Church, not of heretics, but the Holy Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Church outside of which we believe that no one is saved.” -Pope Innocent III, Eius exemplo, December 18, 1208 A.D.
Boniface VIII
“Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd’… Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature that they be under the Roman Pontiff.” -Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam, November 18, 1302 A.D.
Eugene IV
“Therefore it [the Holy Catholic Church] condemns, reproves, anathematizes, and declares to be outside the body of Christ, which is the Church, whoever believes opposing and contrary views.” -Pope Eugene IV, ex cathedra Bull of Union with the Copts, Council of Florence, 1442 A.D.
“Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which faith except each one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly…. This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe truly and firmly, he cannot be saved.” -Pope Eugene IV, ex cathedra, Council of Florence, 1442 A.D.
“[The Catholic Church] firmly believes, professes and preaches that none those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but neither Jews, nor heretics nor schismatics, can share in eternal life, but will ‘depart into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels’ [Matthew 25:41], unless they are joined to the Catholic Church before the end of their lives; and that the unity of the ecclesiastical body is so strong that only to those who abide in it do the church’s sacraments contribute to salvation, and do fasting, almsgiving and other works of piety and practices of the Christian militia produce eternal rewards; and that no onecan be saved, no matter how much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed his blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church.” -Pope Eugene IV, ex cathedra, Council of Florence, Bull of Union with the Copts, 1442 A.D.
“It [the Catholic Church] firmly believes, professes and preaches that never was anyone, conceived by a man and a woman, liberated from the devil’s dominion except by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Mediator between God and men, Who was conceived without sin, was born and died… All the holy sacrifices, sacraments, and ceremonies of the Old Testament had prefigured that He would come at some time.” -Pope Eugene IV, Bull of Union with the Copts, Council of Florence, February 4, 1442 A.D.
Leo X
“The Holy Church of God, which by Divine Providence, We preside over and which is indeed one, preaches and worships one God and firmly and sincerely professes one Faith.” -Pope Leo X, ex cathedra, Fifth Lateran Council, Session 11, 19 December 1516 A.D. The Catholic Church cannot profess multiple faiths.
“For, regulars and seculars, prelates and subjects, exempt and non-exempt, belong to the one universal church, outside of which no one at all is saved, and they all have one Lord and one faith.” -Pope Leo X, ex cathedra, Fifth Lateran Council, Session 11, 19 December 1516 A.D.
Gregory XVI
“Now We consider another abundant source of the evils with which the Church is afflicted at present: indifferentism. This perverse opinion is spread on all sides by the fraud of the wicked who claim that it is possible to obtain the eternal salvation of the soul by the profession of any kind of religion, as long as morality is maintained. Surely, in so clear a matter, you will drive this deadly error far from the people committed to your care. With the admonition of the apostle that ‘there is one God, one faith, one baptism’. may those fear who contrive the notion that the safe harbor of salvation is open to persons of any religion whatever. They should consider the testimony of Christ Himself that ‘those who are not with Christ are against Him,’ and that they disperse unhappily who do not gather with Him. Therefore ‘without a doubt, they will perish forever, unless they hold the Catholic faith whole and inviolate.’” -Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos, #13, 1832 A.D.
Pius IX
“This true Catholic Faith,outside of which no man can be saved, which I now freely profess and truly hold, is what I shall steadfastly maintain and confess, by the help of God, in all its completeness and purity until my dying breath, and I shall do my best to ensure that all others do the same. This is what I, the same Pius, promise, vow and swear. So help me God and these holy gospels of God.”” -Pope Pius IX, ex cathedra, First Vatican Council, the Profession of Faith, Session 2, January 6, 1870 A.D.
“Consequently, whoever does not make this doctrine his own, or maintains an opinion contrary to it, ‘is shipwrecked in faith’ and ‘separates himself from Catholic unity’.” -Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, Dogma on the Immaculate Conception, 1854 A.D.
Leo XIII
“The Church, founded on these principles and mindful of her office, has done nothing with greater zeal and endeavour than she has displayed in guarding the integrity of the faith. Hence she regarded as rebels and expelled from the ranks of her children all who held beliefs on any point of doctrine different from her own. The Arians, the Montanists, the Novatians, the Quartodecimans, the Eutychians, did not certainly reject all Catholic doctrine: they abandoned only a tertian portion of it. Still who does not know that they were declared heretics and banished from the bosom of the Church? In like manner were condemned all authors of heretical tenets who followed them in subsequent ages. ‘There can be nothing more dangerous than those heretics who admit nearly the whole cycle of doctrine, and yet by one word, as with a drop of poison, infect the real and simple faith taught by our Lord and handed down by Apostolic tradition’ (Auctor Tract. de Fide Orthodoxa contra Arianos). The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont to hold as outside Catholic communion, and alien to the Church, whoever would recede in the least degree from any point of doctrine proposed by her authentic Magisterium. Epiphanius, Augustine, Theodoret, drew up a long list of the heresies of their times. St. Augustine notes that other heresies may spring up, to a single one of which, should any one give his assent, he is by the very fact cut off from Catholic unity. “No one who merely disbelieves in all (these heresies) can for that reason regard himself as a Catholic or call himself one. For there may be or may arise some other heresies, which are not set out in this work of ours, and, if any one holds to one single one of these he is not a Catholic” (S. Augustinus, De Haeresibus, n. 88).” -Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum #9, 1898 A.D.
Pius XI
“Furthermore, in this one Church of Christ no man can be or remain who does not accept, recognize and obey the authority and supremacy of Peter and his legitimate successors.” -Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos #11, 1928 A.D.
“In what manner, We ask, can men who follow contrary opinions, belong to one and the same Federation of the faithful? For example, those who affirm, and those who deny that sacred Tradition is a true fount of divine Revelation; those who hold that an ecclesiastical hierarchy, made up of bishops, priests and ministers, has been divinely constituted, and those who assert that it has been brought in little by little in accordance with the conditions of the time; those who adore Christ really present in the Most Holy Eucharist through that marvelous conversion of the bread and wine, which is called transubstantiation, and those who affirm that Christ is present only by faith or by the signification and virtue of the Sacrament; those who in the Eucharist recognize the nature both of a sacrament and of a sacrifice, and those who say that it is nothing more than the memorial or commemoration of the Lord’s Supper; those who believe it to be good and useful to invoke by prayer the Saints reigning with Christ, especially Mary the Mother of God, and to venerate their images, and those who urge that such a veneration is not to be made use of, for it is contrary to the honor due to Jesus Christ, ‘the one mediator of God and men.’ How so great a variety of opinions can make the way clear to effect the unity of the Church We know not; that unity can only arise from one teaching authority, one law of belief and one faith of Christians… For this reason it is that all who are truly Christ’s believe, for example, the Conception of the Mother of God without stain of original sin with the same faith as they believe the mystery of the August Trinity, and the Incarnation of our Lord just as they do the infallible teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff, according to the sense in which it was defined by the Ecumenical Council of the Vatican.” -Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos #9, 1932 A.D.
“For since the mystical body of Christ, in the same manner as His physical body, is one, compacted and fitly joined together, it were foolish and out of place to say that the mystical body is made up of members which are disunited and scattered abroad: whosoever therefore is not united with the body is no member of it, neither is he in communion with Christ its head.” -Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos #10, 1928 A.D.
Pius XII
“Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have received the washing of regeneration and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body.” -Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi, #22, 1943 A.D.
“Nor must one imagine that the Body of the Church, just because it bears the name of Christ, is made up during the days of its earthly pilgrimage only of members conspicuous for their holiness, or that it consists only of those whom God has predestined to eternal happiness. It is owing to the Savior’s infinite mercy that place is allowed in His Mystical Body here below for those whom, of old, He did not exclude from the banquet. For not every sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy.” -Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi, #23, 1943 A.D.
“You can easily see, Venerable Brothers and beloved sons, why he cannot be considered a Catholic or bear the name of Catholic who professes or teaches differently from what We have up to this point briefly explained.” -Pope Pius XII, Ad Sinarum Gentem, #21, 1954 A.D.
“‘For in one spirit’ says the Apostle, ‘were we all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free.’ As therefore in the true Christian community there is only one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one Baptism, so there can be only one faith. And therefore, if a man refuse to hear the Church, let him be considered – so the Lord commands – as a heathen and a publican. It follows that those who are divided in faith or government cannot be living in the unity of such a Body, nor can they be living the life of its one Divine Spirit.“-Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi, #22, 1943 A.D.
“The Church is visible because she is a body. Hence they err in a matter of divine truth, who imagine the Church to be invisible, intangible, a something merely ‘pneumatological’ as they say, by which many Christian communities, though they differ from each other in their profession of faith, are united by an invisible bond.” -Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi, #14, 1943 A.D.
Qualifications of the Roman Pontiff and General Issues Relating to the Apocalypse
“As the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be” (Mt 24:37). These are the days of Noah, who demanded and commanded that all enter the Ark of Salvation, outside of which no one at all can be saved. So too today We call all men into the Church, outside of which there is no salvation. And even if only eight or fewer follow Us, We would be content, because truth consists not according to the number of believers, as Noah did indeed demonstrate. And again it was said by Our Lord Christ “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”
At this time the Pontiff is a layman (see the proof of jurisdiction showing how he can be both a layman and the Roman Pontiff). This is no surprise, as Our Lord predicted that when the Great Apostasy comes, there would be an end to the Holy Sacrifice (Daniel 12:11; Matthew 24:15). If the Catholic Church is not going to have a Holy Sacrifice (which is the Mass), then that means somehow the sacrament of orders must not be practiced in most of the Catholic Church for a time, because only ordained men can make the Holy Sacrifice. It is no surprise, therefore, that the Catholic Church does not have any bishops or other ordained men inside of her at this time as far as is known to the Pontiff (though there are some that are unknown in places). We are not aware of a single bishop with holy orders who professes the Catholic Faith and the dogmas on “no salvation outside the Catholic Church”. We would also be truly shocked if anyone with holy orders converted to our knowledge before the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, though it is a possibility. Perhaps one will convert before the end, and that is why Saint Malachy states regarding Petrus Romanus “He will feed the sheep amidst many tribulations” (if we are to take this prophecy purportedly from Saint Malachy with seriousness).
All are called into the Ark from everywhere, but We also recognize a special blessing given to Japheth and his descendants who became the Roman Empire and eventually the Holy Roman Empire, as a special blessing from God through Noah. Rome, the seat chosen by God for the prince of the Apostles, was predicted even from the time of Noah in Genesis chapter nine when Noah blessed Japheth more than the other brothers, for He declared that Japheth would conquer the tents of Shem, and conferred no blessing upon Ham. Satan, that son of perdition, has long attempted to denigrate and harass the White Caucasian and European races (the sons of Japheth and of the Roman Empire) since the mid twentieth century and even earlier, and it is one of the signs of the Great Apostasy.
Regarding the Need to Hold and Profess the Catholic Faith as Taught by the Magisterium
Magisterium is the teaching office of the Roman Pontiff. The extraordinary magisterium (defined dogmas spoken with full solemnity and ex cathedra, also known as the Church’s solemn judgment) and ordinary universal magisterium (papal doctrinal teachings addressed directly to and teaching to all the faithful and proposed authoritatively and further, and even those things….
taught only by the ordinary authentic magisterium (such as encyclicals addressed only to fellow bishops and authorities), and letters of the Roman Pontiffs that are authentically from their hand or voice instructing regarding doctrine and law, such as the epistles of Innocent III, are also held on pain of schism and heresy if receded from (Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum, #9 – “The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont to hold as outside Catholic communion, and alien to the Church, whoever would recede in the least degree from any point of doctrine proposed by her authentic Teaching Office…St. Augustine notes that other heresies may spring up, to a single one of which, should any one give his assent, he is by the very fact cut off from Catholic unity.”). Like holy scripture, even merely the ordinary authentic magisterium is of the level “he who hears you hears Me” (Pius XII, Humani Generis #22) and thus is infallible, and settling all discussion among theological authorities on the points raised. It is the voice of Jesus Christ Himself.
Dogma regarding Baptism
The Church has in her creeds, declared that she has only one baptism. She further defined at Florence that it is celebrated in water with a minister, matter, and form. She has further defined at Vatican I that there can be no recession from this dogma to make another baptism. Florence defined baptism as the gateway pertaining to the spiritual life, and Trent clarified this more and taught that the Church exercises judgment and jurisdiction on no one who has not first entered her through the gateway of baptism. Finally, Our most recent Predecessor Pius XII infallibly taught in Mystici Corporis that only those can be counted in Holy Mother Church who have received the laver of regeneration and professed the true faith. The laver of regeneration refers to the washing received in justification, and is normally received during the washing of the baptismal rite. Some heretically ignored these admonitions, and regarded the necessity described in these past dogmas as being only a legal necessity or moral necessity, and not a necessity of means. Wherefore, even though these matters were already clear from the aforementioned citations when considered in their entirety, to further quash all debate, WE DECLARE AND DEFINE that the sacrament of baptism is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every man, woman, and child, after the founding of the Catholic Church by Our Lord Jesus Christ. Further, WE DECLARE AND DEFINE that the sacrament of baptism is the gateway into the Catholic Church and without the sacrament of baptism received at least in desire as an object of it, no man, woman, or child enters into the Catholic Church. The regeneration of baptism is normally obtained by participating in the actual celebration of the rite of baptism, or occasionally when the sacrament cannot be received the normal way, by desiring baptism and its real and natural water as objects of the desire. The Apostolic See further holds to the letters attributed to Our Predecessors Innocent II and Innocent III, promulgated again via the decretal bull of Our Predecessor Gregory IX “Rex Pacificus” upholding baptism of desire as the law of the Church and the infallible authentic ordinary magisterium, in all things related to the manner of baptism’s necessity through desire for those who may not have been able to touch the salutary waters they desired before death. We are confident in this and all discipline of the Church, including the discipline pertaining only to certain rites, because Our Predecessor Gregory XVI declared that the laws of the Church have special protections from the Holy Spirit. “Moreover, it would be a sacrilege—and wholly foreign to that spirit of reverence with which the Church’s laws must be received—to condemn, by a mad lust for forming opinions, the sacred discipline established by the Church herself, in which are contained both the administration of sacred rites, the standard of morals, and the ordering of the Church’s rights and of her ministers; or to brand that discipline as hostile to certain definite principles of natural law; or to call it defective and imperfect, and subject to civil authority.” (Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos). Further, this baptism also removes all temporal punishments even in desire, as these Predecessors declared that recipients of baptism in desire were sent to the heavenly fatherland, and made no mention of purgatory. But in no way can this desire be effective, unless they hold the Catholic Faith and not some other belief.
Regarding Invincibly Ignorant Material Schismatics and Material Heretics
Finally, let it be known, that if at any time a man who is validly baptized refuses submission to the legitimate Roman Pontiff, or holds to false teaching contrary to the dogmas of faith, he cannot be saved unless he converts from his false way. Even if he holds no guilt for the actual schism or heresy due to invincible ignorance or confusion, if he were to die while refusing submission to the Roman Pontiff or holding to his heresy, he would depart into the everlasting fires for other sins. Heretics who cling to their heresies, if they are deluded rather than pertinacious, are afflicted by blindness from God, due to mortal sin by the irregularity and general sinfulness of their lives. Thus, even invincibly ignorant material heretics and material schismatics perish if they remain in their state. For the Church in her actual Magisterium has always declared that any who hold opposing or contrary views to the Church are condemned, and made no exception or distinction based on whether the false belief was held only materially, or formally and pertinaciously. “Therefore, whoever holds opposing and contrary views, it [the Catholic Church] condemns, rejects, and anathematizes, and declares them to be cut off from the body of Christ, which is the Church.” -(Eugene IV, Cantate Domino). Only confused theologians who had gone down a wrong road, usually in modern times, made the false distinction that material heretics are possibly justified and in the way of salvation. The Apostolic See never taught that material heretics are in the way of salvation in a single decree, encyclical, letter, or judgment. It taught only the opposite. Of course, neither are pagans, who hold to an error against faith even through invincible ignorance, in the way of salvation. Further, neither Aquinas the exalted theologian, nor any catechism approved by the Apostolic See ever taught such a thing. The Roman Catechism does teach that those who first sin against faith do not have to be called heretics, but they also may be called heretics if one does not want to include pertinacity in its definition, depending on the discretion of the one dispensing that matter. In either case, they are outside the pale of salvation. “Non enim, ut quisque primum in fide peccarit, haereticus dicendus est; sed qui, ecclesiae auctoritate neglecta, impias opiniones pertinaci animo tuetur.” (Pars I Cap. X). “Dicendus est” is a gerundive of obligation, therefore the proper sense is “it is not that one who first offends must be called a heretic”, but it does not deny such a person may be called a heretic. And in any event, such a person is outside, whether immediately classed among the heretics (even though not yet pertinacious), or not yet classed among them.
Some have erroneously tried to teach that Our Predecessor Pius IX taught justification and eternal salvation for non-Catholics in invincible ignorance. However, he taught no such thing. He only held that those in invincible ignorance have no sin directly due to the ignorance- not that they had attained to justification or eternal salvation from their other sins. Further, he also declared that if those in invincible ignorance are “sincerely observing the natural law and its precepts inscribed by God on all hearts and ready to obey God, they live honest lives and are able to attain eternal life by the efficacious virtue of divine light and grace.” From the other dogmas defined by the Church, it is manifest that the efficacious virtue of divine light and grace is the rejection of all errors against faith (i.e. they do not err against a single dogma), since the Catholic Church condemns all who hold opposing and contrary views as declared by Eugene IV, and at the same time the holding explicitly of at least the supernaturally revealed dogma of God the Rewarder and any other of the most basic mysteries that must be held by an absolute necessity of means. Faith in One God is not enough, a man must at least supernaturally believe in the true God the Rewarder. God may grant this divine light and grace, this supernatural faith, by an interior illumination or an angel, or send them a missionary. Further, via this supernatural faith and divine light and grace, they do not hold a single error against any dogma. As a result, they do not remain in their paganism or other false religion. This is extremely important to note. Anyone who declares that a man can err against some advanced (or any) dogmas of faith as a pagan, and yet still hold supernatural faith has not understood the dogmas of the Church. A Catholic in the state of grace errs against no dogma of the Church. Even if these converts at the edge of civilization or in ignorance of most of Catholic dogmas are not aware of the more advanced dogmas, they still do not err regarding them either such as by holding to an error against faith via a false religion or philosophy. Instead, they do not consider or hold the advanced dogmas at all in their mind, since they have never thought about them, but they definitely do not reject them. Also, the moment they hear an advanced dogma, they immediately embrace it if they are not blinded due to mortal sin and are not pertinacious against truth, since supernatural faith cannot reject its truths. For those who are not in barbarous lands, the common condition of such persons is to “accept whatever the Church teaches” and rest in the same, in this way they remain steady in faith even if they cannot explicate the advanced dogmas. Likewise, for those who were illumined in faith at the edge of civilization, where the fullness of the Catholic Church is not yet proclaimed to them, and they conceive only of God the Rewarder by interior light of the Holy Spirit or an angel, they accept “whatever the true God has revealed”, and at the same time instinctively reject all pagan errors against the faith. They do not remain pagans. If it could be otherwise, then the dogmas declaring no salvation outside of the Catholic Faith and the condemnation of all who hold opposing views would be meaningless. “Hence she regarded as rebels and expelled from the ranks of her children all who held beliefs on any point of doctrine different from her own” (Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum #9). Or put another way, it is impossible to reject something explicitly while holding it implicitly. It is impossible to reject something explicitly, while desiring it implicitly. Thus all who reject any Catholic dogma explicitly as a pagan or heretic cannot be implicitly holding the faith.
In addition to remaining consistent with the dogmas of the Catholic Church that condemn all who hold opposing views without qualification, this understanding is also consistent with the other statements of Our Predecessors pertaining to divine light and grace. For example “and I said: Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord answered: ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by the faith that is in me‘” (Acts 26:15-18); “for from her God, in the unfathomable designs of His mercy over the world, has in the course of ages by preference chosen Apostolic men destined to preach the true faith to the limits of the globe, and to carry the light of the Gospel to the nations yet plunged in the darkness of paganism” (Leo XIII, Depuis Le Jour, 1899); “Very rapidly did the light of the Gospel shine upon the savage tribes discovered by the Ligurian” (Leo XIII, Longinqua); “We direct Our first thoughts to those most unfortunate of all nations who have never received the light of the Gospel, or who, after having possessed it, have lost it through neglect or the vicissitudes of time” (Leo XIII, Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae, 1894); “Who will prevent us from hoping that the flame of Christian charity may dispel the darkness from their minds and bring to them light and the peace of God?” (Pius X, E Supremi, 1903); “But being endowed with a lofty and generous nature, he had long cherished the desire of going abroad to uncivilized countries, to bring them the light of the Gospel message and instruct them in Christianity” (Pius XII, Ecclesiae Fastos, 1954); “The Church’s aim is not the domination of peoples or the gaining of temporal dominions; she is eager only to bring the supernatural light of faith to all peoples” (Pius XII, Evangelii Praecones, 1951); “in reviewing attentively the history of the Church, one cannot fail to notice how, from the first ages of Christianity, the especial care and solicitude of the Roman Pontiffs have been directed to the end that they, undeterred by difficulties and obstacles, might spread the light of the Gospel and the benefits of Christian culture and civilization to the peoples who ‘sat in darkness and in the shadow of death.’” (Pius XI, Rerum Ecclesiae, 1926).
The same kind of result is incurred for material schismatics. Those who have refused submission to Peter’s legitimate successor have fallen outside the Church. They must recognize, accept, and obey the authority of Peter’s legitimate successors the Supreme Pontiffs. Thus even Saint Vincent Ferrer, who for a long time declared allegiance to a false claimant, nonetheless must have striven even to obey the true one as best as he understood, and must not have refused submission to him at the end of his life.
Further, the Pontiffs have issued a few decrees regarding the outer limits of those things that must be held and believed to be numbered among the elect, but never did they teach that men in such a state could still remain pagans or heretics or schismatics and err against advanced dogmas. If they had done that, then the Council of Florence, which condemns all who hold opposing and contrary views without qualification, would have to be rejected, likewise many other decrees in councils and encyclicals (such as Satis Cognitum) and elsewhere which condemn all who hold opposing views without qualification.
Regarding the minimum dogmas that must be held explicitly, they wrote among others “Only faith in one God seems necessary by a necessity of means, not, however, the explicit (faith) in a Rewarder. -Condemned Proposition” (Innocent XI, Various Errors on Moral Subjects, 1679). “Nor can… implicit desire produce its effect if it is not animated by supernatural faith, for anyone who comes to God must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him. (Heb XI, 6). The Council of Trent declares (session VI. ch. VIII): Faith is the principle of man’s salvation, the foundation and the root of all justification. Without it, it is impossible to please God and to be counted among his children. (Denz., 801)” (Holy Office Letter to Feeney, August 8, 1949, Approved Pius XII). “And so Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: ‘We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect.’” (Pius X, Acerbo Nimis, 1905).
We censure the following statement from the pre-Vatican II “Baltimore Catechism” (this is a fallible catechism that was approved by a local bishop in North America, and never approved by a true Pontiff in forma specifica):
“Suppose, however, that there is a non-Catholic who firmly believes that the church to which he belongs is the true Church, and who has never—even in the past—had the slightest doubt of that fact—what will become of him? If he was validly baptized and never committed a mortal sin, he will be saved; because, believing himself a member of the true Church, he was doing all he could to serve God according to his knowledge and the dictates of his conscience… If, then, we found a Protestant who never committed a mortal sin after Baptism, and who never had the slightest doubt about the truth of his religion, that person would be saved.”
This statement from the Baltimore catechism is CONDEMNED as vague, offensive to pious ears, and heretical to the extent it implies that a man could ever be found who was saved that held to a false religion upon his death.
Regarding Sedevacantist Schismatics
Those who call themselves “sedevacantists” (Latin- sede (the seat) vacante (is vacant)), who falsely hold that the See of Peter is currently vacant and Boniface X is not the Roman Pontiff, are in grave sin against Our Lord for not attempting to find the true papacy (or obtain a true pope). Christ commands perpetual successors in the papacy and He also commands submission of all other Catholics to those successors. It is not acceptable to remain sedevacantist and be content in such a position. Further, it is not acceptable to wait on a miracle or private revelation. Our Predecessor Pius X condemned the false notion that the object of faith can be based on private revelation.
As was defined by Our Predecessor Pius IX at the First Vatican Council, Session 4, Chapter 2 in 1870 “Therefore, if anyone says that it is not by the institution of Christ the Lord himself (that is to say, by Divine law) that blessed Peter should have perpetual successors in the primacy over the whole church; or that the Roman Pontiff is not the successor of blessed Peter in this primacy: let him be anathema.” Christ has instituted perpetual successors by law and right, and expects His institution to be upheld.