From New Advent: Ignorance is said to be invincible when a person is unable to rid himself of it notwithstanding the employment of moral diligence, that is, such as under the circumstances is, morally speaking, possible and obligatory.
So, rather than bookend Invincible ignorant and hard core protestant, please let me restate my question with the above definition.
Do you claim that Pope Benedict XVI holds all Protestants to be contained in the group of Invincible ignorant?
That depends. If he clings to Unam Sanctum a papal "bull" (appropriate) from Pope Boniface VIII. It "lays down dogmatic propositions on the unity of the Catholic Church, the necessity of belonging to it for eternal salvation, the position of the pope as supreme head of the Church, and the duty thence arising of submission to the pope in order to belong to the Church and thus to attain salvation." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unam_sanctam.
If he instead clings to Vatican II the twenty-first Ecumenical Council which closed in 1965. BTW the current Pope (Benedict) was one of those who worked on the development of this work. One of the major documents resulting from this council was called Lumen Gentium. One of the key portions of Lumen Gentium is its second chapter, with its declaration that the Church is "the People of God":
At all times and in every race God has given welcome to who so ever fears Him and does what is right. God, however, does not make men holy and save them merely as individuals, without bond or link between one another. Rather has it pleased Him to bring men together as one people, a people which acknowledges Him in truth and serves Him in holiness… Christ instituted this new covenant, the new testament, that is to say, in His Blood, calling together a people made up of Jew and gentile, making them one, not according to the flesh but in the Spirit. This was to be the new People of God. For those who believe in Christ, who are reborn not from a perishable but from an imperishable seed through the word of the living God, not from the flesh but from water and the Holy Spirit, are finally established as "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people . . . who in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God". (Lumen gentium, 9) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumen_Gentium
It also states: All human beings are called to belong to the Church. Not all are fully incorporated into the Church, but "the Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christ, but who do not however profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter" (Lumen gentium, 15). In addition, the Church declares the possibility of Salvation for non-Christians and even non-deists.
So, I would say, no, the current Pope probably doesn't consider us Protestants to be invincibly ignorant, and even, thank God, allows that we can indeed be saved by Christ outside of the Catholic Church. What is most curious is their admission that even non-Christians can be saved - if they do enough good works. How they sometimes get around directly answering things in diplo-speak is in referring to the catholic Church - which means the universal church of ALL Christians. They even go so far as to recognize the Eastern Orthodox Church as well as other Orthodox churches as also being a part of this universal church.
“”Do you claim that Pope Benedict XVI holds all Protestants to be contained in the group of Invincible ignorant?””
No,there are some who have a mysterious relationship with the Church and are ignorant of this.Those who love unconditionally even extends to some muslim’s as well who love unconditionally and are ignorant.
All Salvation still comes through the church regardless
Here is an excerpt from Cardinal Ratzinger(Pope Benedict XVI)
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000806_dominus-iesus_en.html
The Church is the “universal sacrament of salvation”,79 since, united always in a mysterious way to the Saviour Jesus Christ, her Head, and subordinated to him, she has, in God’s plan, an indispensable relationship with the salvation of every human being.80 For those who are not formally and visibly members of the Church, “salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church, but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit”;81 it has a relationship with the Church, which “according to the plan of the Father, has her origin in the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit”.82