[Red Badger]

I don’t recall Christ being picky as to what denomination his followers were...............

[NRA2BFree]

I don’t recall Christ being picky as to what denomination his followers were...............

Well, Catholics and everyone else would be out of luck if He did, since His followers were Jews!

[Mrs. Don-o]

Nothing in that Vatican document says that "nobody but Catholics are eligible for salvation." B16, like the rest of us Catholics, is obliged to agree with the Catechism, which says:

All who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church."

Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth" are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: "the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements."

Christ's Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him, and are in themselves calls to "Catholic unity."

So, good people, don't jump to unwarranted conclusions. This is a definition problem. The definition of "Church" in Catholic parlance, is "the people of God, hierarchically assembled" or "gathered around their Bishop."

Thus Catholics and Orthodox (and possibly the ancient Nestorian or "Oriental" Christians) qualify, and others don't, simply as a matter of classification. It's technical talk. Only congregations that have bishops with apostolic succession, are Churches according to a formal ecclesial definition.

It doesn't mean the rest are all damned, it doesn't mean you're not Christians, and it doesn't mean you don't have a church, as the term is commonly defined by non-hierarchical churches!

Here's an analogy.

It's like marriage. The Catholic church can say to, say, a married Jewish couple, "Your marriage is not the Sacrament of Matrimony." But that is NOT to say they aren't married in the eyes of God. It's only to say they haven't received a Catholic sacrament --- which of course no observant Jew would claim to have received, anyway.

Please smooth ruffled feathers.

[Marysecretary]

AMEN. As long as I have Christ in my heart and I follow HIS ways, I don’t need any Pope or any other Catholic telling me I’m not a Christian. Not all Catholics are Christians either. It wholly depends on their relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. Church will never take the place of Jesus Christ.

[guinnessman]

But He did say this:

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.

[Salvation]

You don’t remember the Bible stateing in John? Many heard Christ’s message about the Body of Christ in the Bread of Life — and they couldn’t swallow it, so they left Christ’s following?

Come on! It’s in the Bible!