I’m a big enough girl to suck it up and wait to see what His Holiness means with all this. I’m also over my initial fit of laughter at this entire process. We just bring in the Africans, the Protestants begin to heal, the Jews are speaking to us again, and the Pope needs to shake it up. It’s a mystery to me why, but then, much of life is just that — a mystery. Thank you for the rap on the knuckles, ma’am. I stand corrected.
Please, please, read your Catechism. It clearly spells out the Church's position toward other Christian denominations. Also, see the exceprt from Dominus Iesus which I posted to you earlier.
This is not hostility coming from the Vatican, despite what the Catholic-bashers here and in the media would have you believe. It is drawing lines of distinction.
Do you believe sacraments matter or not?
Hardly the case. If you weren't baptized when you were received into the Church, then your baptism was fine. Also, Pope Benedict (and numerous popes before him) have had nothing but good to speak about the study of Scripture. That's the one point where Catholics are so often very weak.
And try to remember, the Pope isn't just trying to 'shake it up'... each of these recent documents are underscoring something that has already been taught or believed by the Church. The Motu Proprio on the Tridentine Mass wasn't supposed to have ANYTHING to do with the Jews, but some of them have their knickers in a twist over ONE line of ONE prayer that is prayed ONCE a year, on Good Friday (and was toned down out of respect for them in 1960). This document shouldn't have Protestants (or anyone else) bent out of shape because it echoes Dominus Iesus, which was released a probably about ten years ago with the permission of Pope John Paul II. That and the relevant sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church are actually probably good places to look to understand this document.