Is Feeneyism Catholic? - Society of St. Pius X

T HE TEACHING OF THE CHURCH 51
[Session 7] “Can. 5. If anyone says that baptism is optional,
that is, not necessary for salvation, let him be anathema. Can. 2:
If anyone says that true and natural water is not necessary for
baptism and thus twists into some metaphor the words of our
Lord Jesus Christ: ‘unless a man be born again of water and the
Holy Ghost’, let him be anathema.” In terms of a syllogism we
have the infallible major premise: “Baptism is necessary for salvation,”
the infallible minor premise: “True and natural water is
necessary for Baptism,” and the infallible conclusion: “True and
natural water is necessary for salvation!”
The answer is simple: of what kind of necessity does the
Council speak in Canon 5? Of the same of which the Council of
Trent itself has spoken in Session 6, Chapter 4, and again in Session
7, Canon 4, i.e., a necessity re aut voto––in deed or in desire.
Their syllogism hence become: baptism is necessary re aut voto for
salvation; now true and natural water is necessary for baptism (it
belongs to its essence); hence true and natural water is necessary re
aut voto for salvation! To say that baptism of water is necessary in
fact or in desire is clearly not to say that it is superfluous, nor unnecessary
for salvation!
See later p.98 for a discussion of justification versus salvation.
PIUS IX
Pius IX is the Pope of the Syllabus and of the definition of
papal infallibility. In one of his encyclicals from which propositions
of the Syllabus were drawn, on August 10, 1863, he wrote:
And here, Beloved Sons and Venerable Brethren, it is necessary
once more to mention and censure the serious error into
which some Catholics have unfortunately fallen. For they are of
the opinion that men who live in errors, estranged from the true
faith and from Catholic unity, can attain eternal life. That is in
direct opposition to Catholic teaching. 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 all 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. For God, who reads comprehensively in every detail
the minds and souls, the thoughts and habits of all men, will not
permit, in accordance with his infinite goodness and mercy, anyone
who is not guilty of a voluntary fault to suffer eternal pun-