Unum Sanctam Contradiction
Present Day Catholicism and The Ex Cathedra
Unam Sanctam Contradiction
Unam Sanctam - NO Salvation For YOU Unless
You Are Subject To The Pope is EX CATHEDRA
The Unam Sanctam decree by Pope Bonivace VIII clearly contradicts present day Catholicism and is vital to know about when doing Christian evangelism.
Hence, we need to know what the unam sanctam ex cathedra statement is and the dictionary definition of a contradiction. The actual Latin words unam sanctam mean "I believe one," according to google translator. Also, Webster cites the following about a contradiction:
2. assertion of the contrary or the opposite; denial. 3 a statement or proposition that contradicts or denies another or itself and is logically incongruous. 4. Direct opposition between things compared; inconsistency. (Random House Webster's College Dictionary (Random House, New York), 1997, p. 287.)
SHOCKING! Read What Pope Leo X Said About Unam Sanctam
With that established, let's now consider the following question: Must one be a Roman Catholic to have salvation, according to their own official teachings BEFORE Vatican Council II, according to the Unam Sanctam papal decree? ANSWER: YES! Concisely stated this is it:
"...We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff" (Pope Boniface VIII, the Bull Unam Sanctam, 1302.)
While many Roman Catholics since Vatican Council II will deny the ex cathedra unam sanctam text this, nonetheless, is still their own clear doctrine set forth by Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303) in his Bull, Unam Sanctam in 1302. The following is what he wrote ex cathedra! Read the Unam Sanctam decree in its entirety for yourself and note the major contradiction between it and what Vatican Council II Catholics are saying today about their own church:
Unam Sanctam In Its Original Context
Boniface, Bishop, Servant of the servants of God. For perpetual remembrance:
Urged on by our faith, we are obliged to believe and hold that there is one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. And we firmly believe and profess that outside of her there is no salvation nor remission of sins , as the bridegroom declares in the Canticles, "My dove, my undefiled, is but one; she is the only one of her mother; she is the choice one of her that bare her." And this represents the one mystical body of Christ, and of this body Christ is the head, and God is the head of Christ. In it there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. For in the time of the Flood there was the single ark of Noah, which prefigures the one Church, and it was finished according to the measure of one cubit and had one Noah for pilot and captain, and outside of it every living creature on the earth, as we read, was destroyed. And this Church we revere as the only one, even as the Lord saith by the prophet, "Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling from the power of the dog." He prayed for his soul, that is, for himself, head and body. And this body he called one body, that is, the Church, because of the single bridegroom, the unity of the faith, the sacraments, and the love of the Church. She is that seamless shirt of the Lord which was not rent but was allotted by the casting of lots. Therefore, this one and single Church has one head and not two, - for had she two heads, she would be a monster,- that is, Christ and Christ's vicar, Peter and Peter's successor. For the Lord said unto Peter, "Feed my sheep." "My," he said speaking generally and not particularly, "these and those," by which it is to be understood that all the sheep are committed unto him. So, when the Greeks or others say that they were not committed to the care of Peter and his successors, they must confess that they are not of Christ's sheep , even as the Lord says in John, "There is one fold and one shepherd."
That in her and within her power are two swords, we are taught in the Gospels, namely, the spiritual sword and the temporal sword. For when the Apostles said, "Lo, here,"- that is, in the Church,- are two swords, the Lord did not reply to the Apostles "it is too much," but "it is enough." It is certain that whoever denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter, hearkens ill to the words of the Lord which he spake, "Put up thy sword into its sheath." Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the temporal sword; the latter is to be used for the Church, the former by the Church; the former by the hand of the priest, the latter by the hand of princes and kings, but at the nod and sufferance of the priest. The one sword must of necessity be subject to the other, and the temporal authority to the spiritual. For the Apostle said, "There is no power but of God, and the powers that be are ordained of God"; and they would not have been ordained unless one sword had been made subject to the other, and even as the lower is subjected by the other for higher things. For, according to Dionysius, it is a divine law that the lowest things are made by mediocre things to attain to the highest. For it is not according to the law of the universe that all things in an equal way and immediately should reach their end, but the lowest through the mediocre and the lower through the higher. But that the spiritual power excels the earthly power in dignity and worth, we will the more clearly acknowledge just in proportion as the spiritual is higher than the temporal. And this we perceive quite distinctly from the donation of the tithe and functions of benediction and sanctification, from the mode in which the power was received, and the government of the subjected realms. For truth being the witness, the spiritual power has the functions of establishing the temporal power and sitting in judgment on it if it should prove to be not good. And to the Church and the Church's power the prophecy of Jeremiah attests: "See, I have set thee this day over the nations and the kingdoms to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."
And if the earthly power deviate from the right path, it is judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power deviate from the right path, the lower in rank is judged by its superior; but if the supreme power [the papacy] deviate, it can be judged not by man but by God alone. And so the Apostle testifies, "He which is spiritual judges all things, but he himself is judged by no man." But this authority, although it be given to a man, and though it be exercised by a man, is not a human but a divine power given by divine word of mouth to Peter and confirmed to Peter and to his successors by Christ himself, whom Peter confessed, even him whom Christ called the Rock. For the Lord said to Peter himself, "Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth," etc. Whoever, therefore, resists this power so ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God, unless perchance he imagine two principles to exist, as did Manichæus, which we pronounce false and heretical. For Moses testified that God created heaven and earth not in the beginnings but "in the beginning."
Furthermore, that every human creature is subject to the Roman pontiff, - this we declare, say, define, and pronounce to be altogether necessary to salvation. (Philip Schaff, A History of the Christian Church, Vol. VI (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1910), pp. 25-27.)
Unam Sanctam Reaffirmed By Pope Leo X
As you have just read, Pope Boniface VIII in his Unam Sanctam bull of 1302 made subjection to the pope an essential of salvation for every creature. There is no exception in it made for non-Catholics. Furthermore, the medieval Roman Catholic Church clearly accepted this Unam Sanctam belief for it was reaffirmed by Pope Leo X at the Fifth Lateran Council (1516). Furthermore, Leo X went on:
To this was added the atrocious declaration that disobedience to the pope is punishable with death. (Ibid., Vol. VI , pp. 488.)
(By the way, Leo X was the pope when Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation.) Again, how different this is from present-day Catholicism, which has gone on record to state the following:
841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims ; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day." ( Catechism of the Catholic Church, (Liguori, MO., Liguori Publications, 1994, p. 223.)
That was actually part of a larger quote from Vatican Council II. To elaborate in a more full way, note what else was stated there:
But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Moslems: these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day. Nor is God remote from those who in shadows and images seek the unknown God, since he gives to all men life and breath and all things (cf. Acts 17:25-28), and since the Saviour wills all men to be saved (cf. 1 Tim. 2:4). Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too many [sic] achieve eternal salvation. (Vatican Council II (Northport, New York: Costello Publishing Co.), Vol. 1, 1984, p. 367.)
That was also repeated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
847 ... Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, p. 224.)
In conclusion, it should be clear that for hundreds of years Roman Catholics believed, because of papal decrees, especially the Unam Sanctam one, that one must be in subjection to the Pope to have salvation, but in recent times that teaching about salvation has been changed! Please note: it is apparent after reading the Unam Sanctam, that this belief about salvation was contradicted and not added on or clarified as some Catholic apologists might want us to think. Moreover, neither are the opposing declarations of the Unam Sanctam and Vatican Council II different aspects of the same idea.
Unam Sanctam Contradicted
Finally, this most serious contradiction between the two not only refutes their own doctrine of the infallibility of the pope, but also falsifies the Roman Catholic claim that their Tradition is the universal consent of the Fathers. The latter is clearly shown by the clash regarding salvation between Pope John Paul II and two former popes, Boniface VIII and Leo X. This clear evidence should end forever the false Roman Catholic claim that such Sacred Tradition is on an equal authority with the Holy Scriptures (
Bible), but even more significant, we must note the following: (1) The message of the Bible, which was written to make us wise unto salvation (2 Tim. 3:15), never even hints at the idea that one must be in subjection to any human for salvation. (2) Neither does the Bible allow any person into the kingdom of God that would reject the Gospel of Christ , which the Muslims flatly do. Moreover, we are never informed in God's Word that one is a potential heir of salvation, based upon their actions to do his [God's] will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience.
The Real Truth
According to Scripture, Jesus is the only way to the Father (Jn. 14:6); He alone possesses the name in which salvation is found (Acts 4:12) and not to have an obedient faith in Christ for salvation will bring damnation (John 3:18 cf. Lk. 8:21). No one has to be in subjection to the Roman Pontiff to have salvation. Also, there is NO exception ever made for Christ rejecters, who are sincerely trying to follow the dictates of their own conscience. Finally, the following Scripture shockingly tells us about the spirit of the antichrist :
Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. (2 Jn. 7)
According to the aforementioned quotes from Vatican Council II, such people as described in it, could be included in 2 Jn. 7 and may find salvation!
BTW, the scores of anathemas on all non Catholics from the Council of Trent, which are still binding, also shouts out a clear message from Catholicism that one must be Catholic to have salvation! Do not be deceived about the Unam Sanctam or these other issues! Go by the Bible and you'll be safe. It is final authority (2 Tim. 3:16,17). The Unam Sanctam bull by Pope Boniface VIII has NO real authority!