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(LifeSiteNews) — In Part 2 of John-Henry Westen’s interview with Bishop Athanasius Schneider, the bishop commented on the dogma “outside the Church there is no salvation,” insisting that the Jews also need to be converted. He also declared that the Vatican should admit their “errors” regarding the COVID vaccines, but fears that it is too hard for them to do so.

John-Henry asked the bishop about the Church’s dogma “outside the Church there is no salvation” and stated that it is today “disdained” in the Church and even effectively contradicted by Pope Francis. Yet he reminded us that even Pope Benedict XVI, in his retirement, pointed out that the weakening of this dogma had led to a loss of the Catholic Church’s “missionary zeal.”

Bishop Schneider insisted upon the validity of this dogma and explained that it “means basically outside … Jesus Christ is no salvation because the Church is only the Mystical Body of Christ.” Jesus Christ, he added, is the “only way of salvation.” He went on to quote Christ Who Himself said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Furthermore, Schneider also quoted Saint Paul, who said that “whoever does not accept Jesus Christ, upon him will remain the wrath of God.

Since John-Henry Westen explicitly mentioned the topic of the conversion of the Jews to the Catholic faith, the Kazakh bishop of German descent also touched upon the Jews. “The Jews are the first who have to believe in Jesus Christ as their Redeemer, because He came first to His people.” Historically, Christ first came to the Jews, and then to the pagans, Schneider reminded us.

So we have to strive to pray for the true conversion of the Jews to Jesus Christ, their Savior,” he concluded.

One part of the undermining of the dogma “outside the Church there is no salvation” is the promotion of interreligious dialogue within the Catholic Church, which sends the message that all religions are equal, or at least can lead to heaven.

For Bishop Schneider, this “so-called plurality of religions” is a “heresy.” He bemoaned the interreligious meetings that started a few decades ago, which give the impression that the Catholic Church is only one of so many religions and Jesus Christ is only one among the other founders of religions.

The Kazakh prelate called the first of such meetings, the one in Assisi in 1986 with Pope John Paul II, a “catastrophe.” Such interreligious meetings are simply a kind of supermarket of religions, and it is against the Gospel.”

This is a betrayal of the Gospel,” Bishop Schneider insisted. We have to stop with such meetings.” Further explaining his position, he added that of course we should show “love” toward our neighbors of other religions in our daily lives.

John-Henry Westen also asked Bishop Schneider about the abortion-tainted COVID vaccines and the fact that these vaccines even “have been found to be ineffective.” John-Henry had first interviewed the prelate on this topic back in December 2020.

For the Kazakh prelate, it is clear that the representatives of Pfizer publicly in the European Parliament acknowledged the ineffectiveness of their vaccines, and now the Holy See must recognize this fact.” But he fears that they will not do so, because it is hard to admit one’s “errors.”

He further explained that these COVID vaccines are “abortion-tainted” and are not only linked with the abortion industry, but also with the “fetal industry.” We can “in no circumstances” accept these vaccines, he went on to say.

To use these vaccines would be a “de facto collaboration and approval of this horrendous fetal industry and all the culture of abortion,” and thus we would “commit a grievous omission of protesting against abortion and fetal industry.”

As can be seen in Part 2 of this interview, Bishop Schneider continues to be a strong moral voice and a truth-teller in matters of the faith and of the world. Stay tuned for Part 3 of this interview as led by John-Henry Westen.

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Dr. Maike Hickson was born and raised in Germany. She holds a PhD from the University of Hannover, Germany, after having written in Switzerland her doctoral dissertation on the history of Swiss intellectuals before and during World War II. She now lives in the U.S. and is the widow of Dr. Robert Hickson, with whom she was blessed with two beautiful children.

Dr. Hickson published in 2014 a Festschrift, a collection of some thirty essays written by thoughtful authors in honor of her husband upon his 70th birthday, which is entitled A Catholic Witness in Our Time.

Hickson has closely followed the papacy of Pope Francis and the developments in the Catholic Church in Germany, and she has been writing articles on religion and politics for U.S. and European publications and websites such as LifeSiteNews, OnePeterFive, The Wanderer, Rorate Caeli, Catholicism.org, Catholic Family News, Christian Order, Notizie Pro-Vita, Corrispondenza Romana, Katholisches.info, Der Dreizehnte,  Zeit-Fragen, and Westfalen-Blatt.

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