“By faith it is to be firmly held that outside the Apostolic Roman Church none can achieve salvation. This is the only ark of salvation. He who does not enter into it, will perish in the flood. Nevertheless equally certainly it is to be held that those who suffer from INVINCIBLE ignorance of the true religion, are not, for this reason, guilty in the eyes of the Lord.”—Pope Pius IX.
This is a great quote, but it’s taken out of context by many Catholics today. People are now conflating invincible ignorance and vincible ignorance. Remember that INVINCIBLE ignorance means you could NOT have known the truth about Christ and the Catholic Church (eg you’re in an isolated Amazonian tribe.) But VINCIBLE ignorance means you had access to the truth (including the internet) but instead (out of laziness, fear, or rebellion) you chose NOT to learn the truth of Christ and the true Catholic faith. (Also, keep in mind invincible ignorance may reduce culpability, but it by no means guarantees salvation.)
Similarly, there are a lot of Catholics reminding other Catholics that for a grave sin to be mortal, one needs full knowledge and consent of the will. This is true. However, the enormous caveat is again found in the paragraph above. So, please re-read it if you want to understand true traditional Catholic moral theology. (In fact, the differentiation between the two types of ignorance is even found in the new catechism at CCC 1790-1793.)
