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This was never said at all.

I disagree...

Direct from the linked article:

It said the branches of Christianity formed after the split with Rome at the Reformation could not be called churches "in the proper sense" because they broke with a succession of popes who dated back to St Peter.
As a result, it went on, Protestant churches have "no sacramental priesthood", effectively reaffirming the controversial Catholic position that Anglican holy orders are worthless.
The document claimed the Catholic church was the "one true church of Christ". The claims came in a document, from a Vatican watchdog which was approved by the Pope.

He said there was One True Church (with a capital "C") and that is the Church that Christ founded, i.e. the Catholic church. No where was it said that people of other denominations are not Christian.

Lower case c(hurch)
...could not be called churches "in the proper sense"...
...effectively reaffirming the controversial Catholic position that Anglican holy orders are worthless...

That's a bit more than simply saying that the Church that Christ founded is the Catholic Church.

And I ask again, why? What is the intent of a statement like this?

OK, I'll answer your last question, but please realize that nothing you posted gave evidence to the assertion that the Pope has called non-Catholics as "non-Christians".

What is the intent of a statement like this?

To reaffirm the teaching of the Church. As to WHY NOW, there's a good discussion of this going on at catholic.com. I refer you to http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=167828 starting with post #21 (I'd rather not copy posts by others verbatim on this board)