You keep referring to Roman Catholicism as a denomination as though it were one of the 25,000 Protestant factions. No. We are the trunk of the tree, not simply a branch. We are the tree from which “denominations” took root. You use the Bible we codified. You mimic our liturgy and follow our calendar. You set up authority in episcopate structures with the seat of power in Canterbury or Billy Graham or your local pastor in recognition of the need for such an authority.
We are over a billion strong and growing. The Eastern Orthodox, who are far more like-minded to us Catholics than to Protestant theology, are another half billion. The Protestant world is approx 300 million total... and yet each denomination looks to its Mother Church and tells Her to conform... hubris!
Source?
Just because the Roman Catholic church likes to jump in front of God’s parade and claim to be its originator/organizer/sustainer does not make it so. Even if the RCC currently has the “biggest” float in the parade, it does not mean it is the best, not that its adherents are all actually “believers” (true of all Christian sects).
Silly me, I though Jesus was the vine, and we are the branches (John 15:5). I didn’t realize there was the “trunk” of a “tree” between the vine and His branches.
In actuality, the only true church that really exists is comprised of the “branches” that abide in the vine, regardless of what “other” label or “communion” they associate themselves with.