Posted on 07/10/2007 8:57:47 AM PDT by f150sound
LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy - Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches.
In the latest document — formulated as five questions and answers — the Vatican seeks to set the record straight on Vatican II's ecumenical intent, saying some contemporary theological interpretation had been "erroneous or ambiguous" and had prompted confusion and doubt.
It restates key sections of a 2000 document the pope wrote when he was prefect of the congregation, "Dominus Iesus," which set off a firestorm of criticism among Protestant and other Christian denominations because it said they were not true churches but merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the "means of salvation."
"Christ 'established here on earth' only one church," the document said. The other communities "cannot be called 'churches' in the proper sense" because they do not have apostolic succession — the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ's original apostles.
Unity in the truth is a good thing. But unity at the expense of truth is evil.
And they were wrong. There are clueless people everywhere.
Correct. The Roman Catholic Church, founded by Jesus Christ, is not under human control - it is a divine institution guided by God.
Unless you believe Christ has called and only has ordained RCC as that being the true representative of his word
I do indeed believe Christ's own words in the Gospel of Matthew.
Sacraments are a way of receiving graces from God, not a work of law. When we use the same words without understanding that we mean different things, we all suffer.
I am hopeful that one day you will understand the "Church of God" is not a denominational organization or religious group established and controlled by human beings. It is a Divine Institution organized and controlled by God Himself. Christ calls those to the Church unless you believe the RCC has been ordained by God to decide in his place and thus the RCC is the only church...well, if you believe that I am happy for you. I myself do not believe that God has ordained the RCC Hierarchy to deem who & what is the Church of God. Thus, on that point we will never agree.
This is almost exactly what the Church teaches.
I will now paraphrase you in order to give you exactly what the Church teaches:
The Roman Catholic Church is the one true Church, all baptized Christians are part of that Church in one way or another, Christ alone is the head of His Church, and He alone will determine who is granted eternal life.
Indeed - we see this illustrated in the Bible when Jesus renames Cephas to Peter, institutes his Church, and then a few minutes later calls him Satan. All humans sin, even those the closest to Christ.
“Now individual Protestans may be saved, but that is because of the grace brought into the world through the Mass.”
Are you on crack?
We have salvation because OF THE MASS? LOL.. Right.. You think God demands you perform a scripted ritual week after week in order to get his grace? As if His death on the cross wasn’t enough??? My God.. how offensive.
When you see Jesus and his wounds, tell him about your “mass”. Then ask the Pharisees how well God reacted to their scripts and rites.
No - this is untrue. Have you read nothing in this thread?
Yes. It would be the equivalent of refusing to cross the Red Sea with Moses or refusing to board the Ark with Noah. And there are numerous references to that throughout the NT: "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you"..."unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
If you are prevented from participating against your will, then that's a different story. But if you willingly refuse to partake, yes, that is death to the soul.
Graces to what end? Salvation?
Some people need a dictionary.
I didn't think I'd really need the /SARC for the second part of my post.
Has the AP misquoted the pope? Because my first statement has been the underlying 'truth' to every religion since the very beginning. You aren't honestly proposing that it's not are you? I'm not specifying the Catholic Church here either, it's any of them. "If you do not worship our way, you are doing it the wrong way." "Our church is the One Church." [Others are] "not true churches but merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the "means of salvation."
I donno, sure sounds to me as if you aren't in the One True Church, and therefore 'saved' you are in fact, going to hell.
That isn't an attack on the Catholic Church. It's a flat statement of all Churches, in fact it applies pretty well to most religion period.
Dr. Richard Sisson (local pastor) had a terrific sermon on that several years ago. Wish I could remember the details - it’s a stitch!
I’m no scholar, more a student. Bottom line is that all validly baptized persons are at least nominally Christian.. Protestant bodies are simply communities of Christians. The Orthodox churches are another story, since their bishops can be traced to the apostles and their sacraments are valid, but they are not in union with the Church of Rome.
No, one is based on arrogance and disunity the second is based on humility and unity. The fact that you don’t see the difference or won’t admit it is very telling.
The Latin Masses may be a treat to see, but I won’t be praying in any language but the one I can understand. I have a problem with saying “Amen” when I have absolutely no idea what I agreed to. I also want to know if, in addition to reading the scriptures in Latin, if the homily will be delivered in Latin as well.
My first reaction was humor. It’s like after 45 years the Roman Catholic Church came up with the idea that God only understands and responds to Latin. What do they think He’s been doing for the last four and a half decades?? Do they think He’s been sitting on the Throne nudging Michael to say, “What?! Do you know what they’re saying? I don’t speak English, do you speak English?” Whereupon Michael shrugs his shoulders and says, “Beats me.”
Suddenly, with the Latin Mass, He’ll slap His forehead and go, “Whew! What a relief! I thought we’d have to hire an interpreter.” It’s goofy.
It is solely up to God whether you are part of his Church, whether you are worthy of being saved, to be part of the Catholic Church, the Church of God, that which is not a institution run by man, but made up of those God calls...not man.
Paul was the Apostle of apostles to the Reformers. Interesting that he gives the earliest account of the institution of the Sacrament.
We Catholics believe that Christ established the Church, so it is “human” only in that it consists of human beings.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.