Pope: Other Christians not true churches

AP ^ | July 11, 2007 | NICOLE WINFIELD

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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.

[bobjam]

Thanks...sounds like the 5 Points of Calvinim...not my cup of tea

[bobjam]

There historically has been a Calvinistic/Lutheran influence in Anglicanism, which played out most prominantly in the Anglican drive to make Scripture available to the people in their own languages. The concepts of predestination, while freely discussed and debated in Anglican circles, never gained a doctrinal sway. The misunderstanding between Charles I and Oliver Cromwell pretty much ended any chance of Anglicanism following the Geneva road.

[theothercheek]

The Armenian Apostolic Church traces its origins back to TWO aspostles - Thaddeus and Bartholomew. Does this make the Armenian Church twice as legitimate as the Catholic Church? Just asking ...