I am glad that Cardinal Ratzinger has been elected pope, he is conservative and worked closely with JPII. I read on the Fox News website (or it may have been Drudge) that he basically denounced all other Christian denominations as false. The article speculated that these views (if they are true) would end cooperation between Catholics and other Christians.
Do you know if this is true? I hope it's not, it would be good for all Christians to work together as much as possible. We may disagree on some things, but we have the same basic belief.
Under John Paul the Great, the document Dominus Iesus was promulgated, which re-establishes the unity and unicity of the Catholic Church. That is, that the Catholic Church is necessary and is the Church established by Christ Himself.
Other Christians, to the extent that they have error mixed in with their true teachings, are in a kind of imperfect communion with God's True Church.
So it is not so much that other churches are "false," just that they all lack the Fullness of Truth found in the Catholic Church. This does nothing to hinder our cooperation in areas where we do agree.
Fo more information look up Dominus Iesus (or Jesus) on the Vatican web site or otherwhere.
SD
As I've said in another post, Ratzinger has thought more deeply about Christian unity than probably anyone in the world. But though he is deeply committed to it, he is also absolutely up-front about the difficulties, which upsets some people. I think he will be good for ecumenism before it's over.
I do not believe it to be an exact quote probably out of context. It is different being a Cardinal and a Pope because the Pope is the face of the Catholic Church. This is an excellent time to bring others in from the ranks of some Protestant Churches that have been severely disillusioned by the Pro abort and Pro gay stances of their once strict Church doctrine,and the foundering Catholics may join a similar church to The Catholic Church,but not with the numerous restrictions. Faith is in vogue (thankfully), He will be wonderful to all people of faith (I have Jewish Husband),and I believe it will be a new beginning for Catholics that strayed because of the pedophile priests. I have a friend who was a Pentecostal from NC his whole life and became Catholic at about 59 years old,and has never been happier. Pro-life and Pro-family ideals will unite all believers of every faith. This will be good for all of us because people see standards being followed and in this helter skelter world it is uplifting. People are looking for leadership and real faith,and I cannot wait for the Mel Gibson movie to come out about Pope JPII.