Actually, the saying you are quoting is “Extra Ecclesium Nulla Salus.” There’s no mention of the word, “Catholic.” Even at the time the Council of Trent wrote that, there were churches other than Catholic which were not anathematized. Orthodox, Coptic, Nestorian and other Oriental churches were recognized to have effective sacraments, and, although in schism, are part of the same Body of Christ.
Unlike these churches, the Protestant churches of “substantially defective,” meaning they are cut off (”defaced”) from the “substance” of the Church; they lack proper sacraments. Therefore no Protestant may be assured of his salvation, regardless of whether he has sincerely participated in his church’s worship. However, a succession of popes has reiterated that as distorted as their view of Christ may be, because Protestants in fact worship Christ, they potentially may be saved through extra-ordinary (as in, “beyond the normal”) means.
Clarification: At the time of the Nestorian schism, the Catholic Church understood certain Eastern churches to follow Nestorius in a doctrine thought to represent a denial of the trinity, and therefore did not recognize the efficacy of baptism. Later, Oriental churches recognized that such churches were not denying the trinity; the Catholic Church, at the time of the Council of Trent, was not, to my knowledge, aware of the status of the churches accused of Nestorianism.
“However, a succession of popes has reiterated that as distorted as their view of Christ may be, because Protestants in fact worship Christ, they potentially may be saved through extra-ordinary (as in, “beyond the normal”) means.”
Is that why both Cardinal Kasper and Cardinal Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, were so ticked-off with Pope Benedict’s “Anglican Ordinariate”?
P.S. How far back does your “succession of popes” go? Does it go past 1957 A.D.?
“Protestant churches yesterday reacted with dismay to a new declaration approved by Pope Benedict XVI insisting they were mere “ecclesial communities” and their ministers effectively phonies with no right to give communion.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jul/11/catholicism.religion