THE UNIVERSAL DIMENSION OF THE SACRAMENTALITY OF THE CHURCH
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1. The author begins by briefly stating the patrimony of traditional doctrine concerning this matter and places special emphasis upon doctrinal developments which have taken place above all from Pius IX and onwards, and, later on, with the Encyclical «Mystici Corporis» and the Letter to the Archbishop of Boston of 1948.
2. The second part is dedicated to the exposition of the doctrine of Vatican Council II in the Constitution Lumen Gentium. The author points out that the formulae which are equivalent to the ancient axiom and which the Council now uses are neither negative nor exclusive but rather positive: «Ecclesia necessaria ad salutem» and «Ecclesia Sacramentum universale salutis». He maintains that the category «sacramentum» as applied to the Church is essentially functional and dynamic. From this fact does the Council underline, above all, the fundamental missionary action of the Church, precisely because the Church is «necessaria ad salutem». On the other hand, since the Church is a universal sacrament of salvation, this implies the ecclesiological nature of the salvation of all men and requires a deeper insight of this essential dimension.
3. Finally, the author discards three interpretations of salvation which he esteems as being incompatible with the sacramentality of the Church: the Theory of Anonymous Christianity put forth by K. Rahner, the polarization in collective aspects of salvation, and within the latter, radical postures found in certain liberation theories.
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