I do not mean to imply that only Catholics are saved...HOWEVER....Christ came to earth with a purpose in mind. That purpose was to establish a new covenant with mankind and provide aa method whereby they might seek forgiveness for their own shortcomings as well as atone for the failure of mankind itself. He, through His disciples, started what has become the Roman Catholic church and He instructed all to follow His teachings and methods. All was fairly smooth for about 1,600 years and then along came "Reformers" who figured they they knew better than Christ and the disciples, how to form a religion. Instead of correcting any ills within the church, they decided to go off on their own systems and caused, over the centuries, millions of people to put their souls in jeopardy.
You can follow whatever leader you choose....as for me, I'll stick with the original plan, do my best to fulfill my responsibilities therein and use Christ's own words to have my sins forgiven...."whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, whose sins you shall retain, they shall be retained".....sounds good to me....a promise from Christ ought to,at least, be considered. He also mentioned something about being with His church until the end of time and did not mention heving a bunch of helpers spring up l,600 years later!!!
How you can say for 1600 years that there was nothing wrong with the "church" - that is, the institutional Roman Catholic Church, is to live in denial.
God reconciled Himself with man through the sacrifice of His son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This was done because of His love for us and desire that no man should perish. I'm not sure where you're coming from but if it's from the standpoint that only Catholics - through baptism, I presume - is the only legitimate claim to God's salvation, then in my humble opinion, you are wrong. Period. - Absolutely, totally, completely wrong.
As for me, I surrendered my heart, my life to the lordship of Jesus Christ, in fact it was on October 24, 1985. I confessed with my mouth that I was a sinner and that there was nothing good enough I could ever do to save myself; I acknowledged in all humility that my righteousness apart from Him was no better than filthy rags. I confessed my sin nature, I confessed that I deserved eternal death, but that Christ in HIS love, died in my place to pay the penalty for my sin. I asked God to have mercy on me, to forgive me, and to come into my heart to save me and give me a new life in Christ Jesus. And He did. From that day on, I became a new creature, a child of the King, in accordance with His promise, His word that says especially in Romans 10:9-13, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." .... (13) For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved."
Of course, there are countless numbers of other scripture that attest to God's mercy, goodness, forgiveness, grace, and rebirth. All I can say is that I know with all assurance that I am His, that no man can ever, not ever take me away from Him...that although I live an imperfect life, He is quick to forgive and to restore our sweet fellowship when I come to Him in humility, seek His face and His forgiveness, and He is such a righteous, loving, forgiving Father Abba, always ready and willing to reconcile ourselves to Him.
You are entitled to feel, believe as you choose, as am I. So be it. Nothing either of us says is going to effect a change of where our heads and hearts are in this walk of faith.