A Blessed Easter, Father. Again, the tragedy of living in these times requires me to reiterate: one does - cannot - belong to Christ unless one is a member of the Roman Catholic Church. And the best barometer for knowing what is of the Faith and what has been time-tested:

“That which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.” – St. Vincent of Lerins

@petrus100452 The Pope who summoned the Council and the Pope who reconvened it expressly stated that Council would be defining neither new dogma nor doctrine. Therefore, I'm bound by nothing the Council says - except when it refers to dogma and doctrine already binding on Catholics due to the teachings of 20 centuries of Catholic history. BUT: the hierarchs for the past 60 years have acted as if Vatican II is binding unto every jot and tittle of the Conciliar documents. The fact that you won't even read Fenton tells me that you're not interested in what one of the foremost theologians (a perilous at the Council) of the 20th century writes about the very subject we have been discussing - which means you believe it is outdated. Sadly, that means we possess different ecclesiologies and we belong to different churches. Either yours or mine is the Roman Catholic Church. Both cannot be.

@petrus100452 The remarks of Pius IX are not inconsistent with what I said above. It is a given that God is not bound to the means of salvation that He has established - but no one enters Heaven who is not justified. Pius IX's comment that no one suffers eternal torment who is not guilty of deliberate sin is true enough - but: how many people in world history would fit that bill? Enunciating a principle makes no conclusion about how often the principle applies. Again, Pius IX would absolutely repudiate what Modernists have done with his doctrine. The post-conciliar establishment actually has a name for it: "the Anonymous Christian." It has absolutely no pedigree in the spiritual and theological history of the Church - as do not a few statements in Vatican II documents.

@petrus100452 I sincerely believe that you are of good will. But your understanding of "extra ecclesial null sallus" is the one taught to you by the post-conciliar counterfeit crew. There is NO evidence that the Church Fathers ever even entertained the notion about which you've been taught. Jesus taught one criteria of evidence that you love Him: "If you love me, keep my commandments." Among those commandments are the need of the Sacraments as the source of sanctifying grace - without which human acts cannot please God. People of other denominations (I suppose you mean Protestants) receive sanctifying grace at Baptism (everyone who is baptized begins as a Roman Catholic). But if they do not continue to adhere to the Catholic Faith, they are heretics. Sanctifying grace is lost - and will not be renewed until they return to the One True Faith and make a good Confession in the Sacrament of Penance. THIS is the Faith of the Church that was taught and believed for 20 centuries before Vatican II.

@petrus100452 I'll not engage in a general debate about the faux Vatican II. But your converse conclusion, via St. Augustine, is simply incorrect. Here is what St. Augustine really thinks: “No man can find salvation except in the Catholic Church. Outside the Catholic Church one can have everything except salvation. One can have honor, one can have the sacraments, one can sing alleluia, one can answer amen, one can have faith in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and preach it too, but never can one find salvation except in the Catholic Church.” (Sermo ad Caesariensis Ecclesia plebem)"