Posted on 07/10/2007 8:00:34 AM PDT by Bladerunnuh
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican said on Tuesday Christian denominations outside Roman Catholicism were not full churches of Jesus Christ.
Protestant leaders said this was offensive and would hurt inter-religious dialogue.
A 16-page document by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Pope Benedict once headed, described Christian Orthodox churches as true churches, but suffering from a "wound" since they do not recognize the primacy of Pope.
But the document said the "wound is still more profound" in Protestant denominations.
"Despite the fact that this teaching has created no little distress ... it is nevertheless difficult to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to them," it said.
The Vatican text, which restates the controversial document
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Me too, I don’t have a problem with this. I’m all for strength of your convictions. It’s when people compromise their faith for the sake of unity that is far worse.
Anti-Christians pretend that they want some sort of "let's all get along" Christianity, but what they really want is for it All To Go Away. This sort of slanted news article is just an attack on all Christians. Divide and conquer.
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I agree. The current Pope is one that you can respect, even when you disagree with him. He’s going to be far better for his church than any other recent Pope.
And, as I told my 75 year old Mom a while ago "Mom, I am broudly in support of the aims of the Reformation" (Our family are Catholic on boths sides for the last 500 or 1000 years)
. That is Bible literacy (appalling among many Catholics), reform of corrupt church practices, careful review of doctrine, more direct unmittigated relationship with God, less focus on Saints, etc.
So yes, most Protestants in they are being honest would say that the Catholic church was 'damaged' which is why the Reformation was needed to start with, and that much of the damage remains.
I really do wish Christians would stop fighting among themselves.
We have a common enemy that is threatening us with annialation and all we are doing is splitting ourselves up into smaller and smaller pieces.
I am saying “we” - but I am not a Christian - I am a Jew.
I view all Christians as my brothers/sisters and I really do hate family fights.
I don’t think Chist would like it either.
He also said non-Catholic Christian chruchs were “true churches.” As an evangelical, I’d say that’s generous, considering his position. One could hardly expect the Pope to say that all denominations were equally valid.
The body of Christ is stronger for being organized into independent cells. The enemy can’t take us out in one blow.
Jesus said He is the builder and it is His Church. He did not command the Apostles to go out and build their churches for Him. A huge distinction with an eternal significance.
It’s only causing “distress” among those who are insecure in their faith. I’m a Protestant. I think there are a lot of lost souls in Catholocism and in Protestantism.
The only quibble I have with what he said is that he doesn’t seem to recognize that the problem exists within the Catholic Church as well. When I watch O’Reilly talk about religion, for example, I ask myself how this guy can really call himself a Christian. Because he attends church services? Because mom & dad were Christians? He doesn’t seem to have any concept of what you’ve got to do to become a Christian.
Why can’t everyone worship as they choose and everyone else stay the hell out of their lives INCLUDING the Vatican?!!!
Catholics do not worship saints. They pray for the ‘intercession’ of saints, which is basically asking saints to pray for us, too.
Your statement is a common slur of Catholics along with the also incorrect statement that the worship the Pope.
You might want to see this...
We are all parts of the body but some parts are in question? I am guilty of saying the catholics are wounded and missing the key points also. But I do believe there is a remnant in each denomination and church. I trust I am part of that remnant and am getting pruned in the process.
Why can’t everyone worship as they choose and everyone else stay the hell out of their lives INCLUDING the Vatican?!!!
To the Catholics Jesus is about love.... especially that kinky Opus Dei whip and chain stuff.
I dunno about you but around here we have a different name for grown men who like to hang around with other grown men that are into whips and chains, and it ain’t purty.
That’s all I’m saying about that.
“Protestant churches are the only actual Christian churches”
Well, I would agree that yes, you’re partly right, because only a handful of the people in SOME of the Protestant churches belong to Jesus’ actual church, but I like to cut the Catholics slack because it’s not like our Protestant churches are paragons of virtue. We have just as many rituals and nonsense, and many of our members are just living lies anyway. I think we’d all be shocked to see the actual numbers of Jesus’ servants on the earth. I imagine it’s probably less than 1 percent of the population. In Sodom, there was only one righteous man, only 8 people survived the flood, only Joshua and Caleb made it into the Promised Land from an original 2-3 million. None of us has any right to brag, but yes, I would agree that it is nearly impossible for a practicing Catholic to hear what he/she needs to hear to survive.
I totally agree.
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