“I personally think the late Cardinal Dulles did a fairly bad job on this, he conceded too much to Balthasar’s claims, he does not seem to be clear on his own position and does not really address the verses which state there are people who will be damned, other than to say they may just be minatory, which I cannot I find hard to accept with no reason (especially since Jesus says people WILL be damned).

Cardinal Dulles further perpetuates the liberal reading of a Papal Audience on July 28, 1999, which the Vatican corrected, since Pope John Paul II made an ambiguous statement, which does NOT have to imply universal salvation, in fact most translations of that Audience have made it so the ambiguity disappeared, even the official Vatican transcript fixed that.

He also strangely says the early theologians believed most were damned because they did not stress baptism of desire, St Alphonse Ligouri taught IMPLICIT desire for baptism, yet still taught most will not be saved. The reason many fathers of the Church taught most will not be saved is simply because they took Jesus literally when he said “many are called, few are chosen” etc.

A month after Cardinal Dulles published his work, which seems to tolerate the view universal salvation is possible, Cardinal Ratzinger’s book was published, and in it he rules out universal salvation as a possibility:

Quote:
“This is why God’s all-embracing desire to save people does not involve the actual salvation of all men. He allows us the power to refuse.”— Joseph Alois Cardinal Ratzinger, “Gott ist uns nah. Eucharistie: Mitt des Lebens” (God is Near Us: The Eucharist, The Heart of Life), Chapter II: God’s Yes and His Love Are Maintained Even in Death, point 2, p. 37 (concerning pro multis in the Mass.) Published June 1, AD 2003 ”

Berhane’s comment launched a spirited debate. If you would like to continue with it you can find it here (start with October 17th comments):
http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=386969&page=2
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