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BOOK II, CHAPTER TWO
The Catholic Church alone is the Body of Christ, of which He is Head and Savior. The "People of God" and the "Mystical Body of Christ" are one and the same thing, both of them designating the Church. Membership in the Church requires conditions other than Baptism alone; it requires identical faith and unity of communion, so that by means of the Catholic Church alone, which is the unrestricted instrument of salvation, is it possible to obtain the fullness of the means to salvation. Indeed, the Church is both a sure and an exclusive means of attaining salvation. We must always remember the unity of the Mystical Body outside which there is no salvation, for there is no entering into salvation outside the Church. Outside this Body, the Holy Spirit gives life to no one: those who are enemies to unity do not participate in the charity of Divine Life; those outside the Church do not possess the Holy Spirit. The entrance to salvation is open to no one outside the Church! (Pope Paul VI) 1 The Church alone is the entrance to salvation. (Pope Pius XII) 2 By means of religious indifference, crafty men deceitfully pretend that people can attain eternal salvation in the practice of any religion. They conclude that others, however estranged from Catholic unity, are equally on the road to salvation and that they are able to achieve everlasting life. Words fail us from utter horror in detesting and abhorring this new and terrible insult! (Ven. Pope Pius IX) 3 When it is a question of life and salvation, we must say of the Church what St. Peter said of Jesus Christ Himself: "Neither is there salvation in any other" (Acts 4:12). (Pope Pius XI) 4 The mystery of salvation is continued and accomplished in the Church, and from this single source it reaches the whole world. There is no salvation outside the Church. From her alone there flows the life-giving force destined to renew the whole of humanity, directing every human being to become a part of the Mystical Body of Christ. (Pope John Paul II) 5 All who desire eternal salvation must cling to the Church and embrace her, like those who entered the Ark to escape perishing in the Flood. (Catechism of Trent) 6 Whoever is separated from this Catholic Church, no matter how much he believes he is living praiseworthily, will not have life, but the anger of God rests upon him. The reason is this offense alone: that he is sundered from the unity of Christ. (St. Augustine) 7 He who does not keep the true Catholic faith whole and without error will undoubtedly be lost. He who is separated from the Catholic Church will not have life. (Pope Gregory XVI) 8 Cut off from the Body into which alone the graces of Christ flow, you are deprived of the benefit of all prayers, sacrifices, and Sacraments. You will gain nothing except perhaps to be tortured somewhat less horribly in the everlasting fire than Judas, or Luther, or Zwingli. (St. Edmund Campion) 9 There is nothing a Christian should dread more than to be separated from the Body of Christ; for, if separated, he is not one of His members. And, since no one can ascend into Heaven but him who has become His member in His Body, the saying is fulfilled that "No one ascends into Heaven except Him Who descended" (Jn. 3:13). (St. Augustine) 10 There is salvation in no one except Christ, and the Church is His Body. (Pope John Paul II) 11 That the Mystical Body of Christ and the Catholic Church in communion with Rome are one and the same thing is a doctrine based on Revealed Truth. That we must necessarily belong to the true Church if we are to attain everlasting salvation is a statement which some people reduce to a meaningless formula. (Pope Pius XII) 12 It is impossible to be joined to God except through Jesus Christ; it is impossible to be united to Christ except in and through the Church, His Mystical Body. (Pope John XXIII) 13 The union of Christ with the members of the Mystical Body is obtained only by membership in the Church, for outside this chaste Spouse there is no union with the Bridegroom. There is no life outside the Church because all the life that is to be had can come only from her, and no one possesses this life unless he belongs to her. Outside the Church there is no salvation. (Ven. William Joseph Chaminade) 14 Those who acknowledge Christ must acknowledge Him completely and entirely. The Head is the only-begotten Son of God; the Body is His Church. No one can in any way be counted among the children of God unless they take Jesus Christ as their Brother and, at the same time, the Church as their Mother. Christianity is, in fact, incarnate in the Catholic Church; it is identified with that perfect spiritual society which is the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ and has for its visible head the Roman Pontiff. Consequently, all who wish to reach salvation outside the Church are mistaken as to the way and are engaged in a futile effort. This is our last lesson to you; receive it, engrave it upon your minds, all of you: by God's commandment salvation is to be found nowhere but in the Church. (Pope Leo XIII) 15
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