Matthew 18:17 is an excellent verse for refuting Protestantism & "Orthodoxy", but it also refutes the heresy that the "invincibly ignorant" can be saved in ignorance of the Gospel. In Matthew 18:17, Our Lord teaches that those who do not hear the church are to be treated the same as a heathen - that includes the "invincibly ignorant". That means that one has to hear the church and cannot be ignorant of her basic teachings to be saved. Heathens aren't saved, nor can they be saved as heathens (Psalm 95:5 & 1 Corinthians 10:20). Our Lord does not leave any possibility for those who die as heathens to be saved, because none exist. The Gospel is hid to those who are lost (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).
Both the Bible & Catholic dogma (Cantate Domino, Council of Florence, etc.) plainly teach that those who don't believe are already condemned (John 3:18), further refuting the heresy that those who don't believe in Our Lord & the Gospel can be saved, as many false traditionalist non-Catholic groups erroneously believe today (i.e., SSPX, SSPX-MC, SSPV, FSSP, CMRI & others). The aforementioned groups & others will dishonestly twist the words of Pope Pius IX to claim that he taught the heresy that non-Catholics can be saved, when Pius IX actually condemned that idea, multiple times - Pius IX condemns the idea that the "invincibly ignorant" have a chance at salvation in the very same document of his which false traditionalists most often cite. St. Robert Bellarmine also condemned the error that non-Catholics who are ignorant of Gospel or basic Catholic teaching could somehow be saved.
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