Florence and No Salvation Outside the Church (Discontinuity or Reform Episode 5)

"This episode has demonstrated that it would be problematic to categorize Cantate Domino’s expression of No Salvation Outside the Church as an infallible statement. Though it was endorsed by a council and pope, neither the council fathers nor the pope actually drafted it. It seems to present a widespread theological opinion, or a sententia ad fidem pertinens, rather than a de fide doctrine, does not seek to define any soteriological or eschatological doctrines, makes changeable assumptions about other religions, and it is aimed at a very small portion of the Christian population. Finally, several doctrines that argued in favor of salvation for non-Christians had already been accepted before the council, and within a century of its conclusion, well-respected theologians and authorities already rejected its expression."