The letter from the Holy Office below was published in Canon Law Digest, Vol. III, 1953, pg 525, under Canon 1324 (Dangers to the Faith). It was also published in "The Jurist, Vol 12" (School of Canon Law, the Catholic University of America, 1952), "The National Catholic Almanac, 1954", "The Church Teaches", "The Catholic Mind", and the "American Ecclesiastical Review" all around the same time. Most of these books are found in Google books by searching for text within the letters below. The letter was certainly well circulated across the globe, and given it was published in multiple books on Canon law, it was well understood that this letter was binding on Catholics. The circumstances surrounding the letter were also printed in an article in "The Catholic Advance" on February 27, 1953. The exact text of the letter as published is presented below, along with its introductory letter from Archbishop Cushing. Further down the page is a timeline of events, including information on the excommunication of Father Feeney.
True Sense of
Catholic Doctrine That There Is No Salvation Outside the Church. A
Catholic School Cannot Remain In Rebellion against Ecclesiastical
Authority (Holy Office, 8 August, 1949) Private.
This important Letter of the Holy Office is introduced by a letter of the Most Reverend Archbishop of Boston. We report first the introductory letter of the Archbishop and then the Letter of the Holy Office.
LETTER OF ARCHBISHOP RICHARD J. CUSHING
The Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office has examined
again the problem of Father Leonard Feeney and St. Benedict Center.
Having studied carefully the publications issued by the Center, and
having considered all the circumstances of this case, the Sacred
Congregation has ordered me to publish, in its entirety, the letter
which the same Congregation sent me on the 8th of August, 1949. The
Supreme Pontiff, His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, has given full
approval to this decision. In due obedience, therefore, we publish,
in its entirety, the Latin text of the letter as received from the
Holy Office with an English translation of the same approved by the
Holy See.
Given at Boston, Mass., the 4th day of September, 1952.
Walter J. Furlong, Chancellor
+
Richard J. Cushing, Archbishop of Boston.
LETTER OF THE HOLY OFFICE
From the Headquarters of the Holy Office, Aug. 8, 1949.
Your Excellency:
This Supreme Sacred Congregation has followed very attentively the
rise and the course of the grave controversy stirred up by certain
associates of "St. Benedict Center" and "Boston College" in regard
to the interpretation of that axiom: "Outside the Church there is no
salvation."
After having examined all the documents that are necessary or useful
in this matter, among them information from your Chancery, as well
as appeals and reports in which the associates of "St. Benedict
Center" explain their opinions and complaints, and also many other
documents pertinent to the controversy, officially collected, the
same Sacred Congregation is convinced that the unfortunate
controversy arose from the fact that the axiom, "outside the Church
there is no salvation," was not correctly understood and weighed,
and that the same controversy was rendered more bitter by serious
disturbance of discipline arising from the fact that some of the
associates of the institutions mentioned above refused reverence and
obedience to legitimate authorities.
Accordingly, the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Cardinals of this
Supreme Congregation, in a plenary session held on Wednesday, July
27, 1949, decreed, and the august Pontiff in an audience on the
following Thursday, July 28, 1949, deigned to give his approval,
that the following explanations pertinent to the doctrine, and also
that invitations and exhortations relevant to discipline be given:
We are bound by divine and Catholic faith to believe all those
things which are contained in the word of God, whether it be
Scripture or Tradition, and are proposed by the Church to be
believed as divinely revealed, not only through solemn judgment but
also through the ordinary and universal teaching office (<Denzinger>,
n. 1792).
Now, among those things which the Church has always preached and
will never cease to preach is contained also that infallible
statement by which we are taught that there is no salvation outside
the Church.
However, this dogma must be understood in that sense in which the
Church herself understands it. For, it was not to private judgments
that Our Savior gave for explanation those things that are contained
in the deposit of faith, but to the teaching authority of the
Church.
Now, in the first place, the Church teaches that in this matter
there is question of a most strict command of Jesus Christ. For He
explicitly enjoined on His apostles to teach all nations to observe
all things whatsoever He Himself had commanded (Matt. 28: 19-20).
Now, among the commandments of Christ, that one holds not the least
place by which we are commanded to be incorporated by baptism into
the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church, and to remain
united to Christ and to His Vicar, through whom He Himself in a
visible manner governs the Church on earth.
Therefore, no one will be saved who, knowing the Church to have been
divinely established by Christ, nevertheless refuses to submit to
the Church or withholds obedience from the Roman Pontiff, the Vicar
of Christ on earth.
Not only did the Savior command that all nations should enter the
Church, but He also decreed the Church to be a means of salvation
without which no one can enter the kingdom of eternal glory.
In His infinite mercy God has willed that the effects, necessary for
one to be saved, of those helps to salvation which are directed
toward man's final end, not by intrinsic necessity, but only by
divine institution, can also be obtained in certain circumstances
when those helps are used only in desire and longing. This we see
clearly stated in the Sacred Council of Trent, both in reference to
the sacrament of regeneration and in reference to the sacrament of
penance (<Denzinger>, nn. 797, 807).
The same in its own degree must be asserted of the Church, in as far
as she is the general help to salvation. Therefore, that one may
obtain eternal salvation, it is not always required that he be
incorporated into the Church actually as a member, but it is
necessary that at least he be united to her by desire and longing.
However, this desire need not always be explicit, as it is in
catechumens; but when a person is involved in invincible ignorance
God accepts also an implicit desire, so called because it is
included in that good disposition of soul whereby a person wishes
his will to be conformed to the will of God.
These things are clearly taught in that dogmatic letter which was
issued by the Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Pius XII, on June 29, 1943,
<On the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ> (AAS, Vol. 35, an. 1943, p.
193 ff.). For in this letter the Sovereign Pontiff clearly
distinguishes between those who are actually incorporated into the
Church as members, and those who are united to the Church only by
desire.
Discussing the members of which the Mystical Body is-composed here
on earth, the same august Pontiff says: "Actually only those are to
be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and
profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to
separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by
legitimate authority for grave faults committed."
Toward the end of this same encyclical letter, when most
affectionately inviting to unity those who do not belong to the body
of the Catholic Church, he mentions those who "are related to the
Mystical Body of the Redeemer by a certain unconscious yearning and
desire," and these he by no means excludes from eternal salvation,
but on the other hand states that they are in a condition "in which
they cannot be sure of their salvation" since "they still remain
deprived of those many heavenly gifts and helps which can only be
enjoyed in the Catholic Church" (AAS, 1. c., p. 243). With these
wise words he reproves both those who exclude from eternal salvation
all united to the Church only by implicit desire, and those who
falsely assert that men can be saved equally well in every religion
(cf. Pope Pius IX, Allocution, <Singulari quadam>, in <Denzinger>,
n. 1641 ff.; also Pope Pius IX in the encyclical letter, <Quanto
conficiamur moerore>, in <Denzinger>, n. 1677).
But it must not be thought that any kind of desire of entering the
Church suffices that one may be saved. It is necessary that the
desire by which one is related to the Church be animated by perfect
charity. Nor can an implicit desire produce its effect, unless a
person has supernatural faith: "For he who comes to God must believe
that God exists and is a rewarder of those who seek Him" (Heb.
11:6). The Council of Trent declares (Session VI, chap. 8): "Faith
is the beginning of man's salvation, the foundation and root of all
justification, without which it is impossible to please God and
attain to the fellowship of His children" (Denzinger, n. 801).
From what has been said it is evident that those things which are
proposed in the periodical <From the Housetops>, fascicle 3, as the
genuine teaching of the Catholic Church are far from being such and
are very harmful both to those within the Church and those without.
From these declarations which pertain to doctrine, certain
conclusions follow which regard discipline and conduct, and which
cannot be unknown to those who vigorously defend the necessity by
which all are bound' of belonging to the true Church and of
submitting to the authority of the Roman Pontiff and of the Bishops
"whom the Holy Ghost has placed . . . to rule the Church" (Acts
20:28).
Hence, one cannot understand how the St. Benedict Center can
consistently claim to be a Catholic school and wish to be accounted
such, and yet not conform to the prescriptions of canons 1381 and
1382 of the Code of Canon Law, and continue to exist as a source of
discord and rebellion against ecclesiastical authority and as a
source of the disturbance of many consciences.
Furthermore, it is beyond understanding how a member of a religious
Institute, namely Father Feeney, presents himself as a "Defender of
the Faith," and at the same time does not hesitate to attack the
catechetical instruction proposed by lawful authorities, and has not
even feared to incur grave sanctions threatened by the sacred canons
because of his serious violations of his duties as a religious, a
priest, and an ordinary member of the Church.
Finally, it is in no wise to be tolerated that certain Catholics
shall claim for themselves the right to publish a periodical, for
the purpose of spreading theological doctrines, without the
permission of competent Church authority, called the "<imprimatur,>"
which is prescribed by the sacred canons.
Therefore, let them who in grave peril are ranged against the Church
seriously bear in mind that after "Rome has spoken" they cannot be
excused even by reasons of good faith. Certainly, their bond and
duty of obedience toward the Church is much graver than that of
those who as yet are related to the Church "only by an unconscious
desire." Let them realize that they are children of the Church,
lovingly nourished by her with the milk of doctrine and the
sacraments, and hence, having heard the clear voice of their Mother,
they cannot be excused from culpable ignorance, and therefore to
them apply without any restriction that principle: submission to the
Catholic Church and to the Sovereign Pontiff is required as
necessary for salvation.
In sending this letter, I declare my profound esteem, and remain,
Your Excellency's most devoted,
+
F. Cardinal Marchetti-Selvaggiani.
A. Ottaviani, Assessor.
(Private); Holy Office, 8 Aug., 1949. The Catholic Mind, 50,
page 749.
Timeline of Events regarding Father Leonard Feeney
August 8, 1949: Letter sent from the Holy Office to the Archbishop of Boston regarding Father Feeney, and clarifying the doctrine on "Outside the Church There Is No Salvation"
October 28, 1949: Father Leonard Feeney expelled from the Jesuit Order
September 4, 1952: Archbishop Cushing of Boston publishes the 1949 letter from the Holy Office at the order of the Sacred Congregation
September 14, 1952: Archbishop Cushing of Boston demands Father Feeney retract his false interpretation of the doctrine in question and make an "explicit profession of submission" to the Roman Declaration within one month, or suffer the penalty of being reduced to the state of a layman. Father Feeney, accompanied by four witnesses, presented himself before his Archbishop and told him that his only option was to declare the letter of Marchetti-Selvaggiani as, "absolutely scandalous because it was frankly heretical"
September 24, 1952: A letter was sent from the St. Benedict Center to Pope Pius XII, accusing Archbishop Cushing of Boston of heresy
October, 1952: Cardinal Pizzardo summoned Father Feeney to present himself in Rome for a hearing by the Holy Office. Father Feeney accepted on condition that they told him beforehand what the charges against him were. Not receiving any response, he did not comply
February 12, 1953: Father Leonard Feeney declared excommunicated by the Holy See
February 16, 1953: The Acta Apostolicae Sedis announced the
excommunication of Father Leonard Feeney, which was recorded in
document AAS 45-100. The following is an official translation of
the Decree:
"Since Father Leonard Feeney remained in Boston (St. Benedict Center) and since he has been suspended from performing his priestly duties for a long time because of his grave disobedience to the Authority of the Church, in no way moved by repeated warnings and threats of incurring excommunication ipso facto, and has still failed to submit, the most Eminent and Reverend Fathers, charged with the responsibility of safeguarding faith and morals, during a plenary session held on February 4, 1953, have declared him excommunicated with all the effects that this has in law.
On Thursday, February 12, 1953, Our Most Holy Father Pius XII, Pope by Divine Providence, has approved and confirmed the decree of these Most Eminent Fathers, and ordered that this be made a matter of public record.
Given in Rome in the general quarters of the Holy Office, February 13, 1953.
Marius Crovini, notary"
