The Catholic Church The only Church?

Question

Has anyone else read the news articles about The Pope's declaration That Catholics are the only true Christians? all other Churches are False? In my opinion, after all the Garbage about the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict is a liar.
THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH IS WHERE TWO OR MORE ARE GATHERED IN JESUS NAME!

O.k. Someone here doewsn't read their News articles on their Yahoo page . Yes the Poe Did say this And it was put out by The AP News Carriers all over yahoo!

Answer 1

I believe in what you are saying about ppl gathering in the name of Jesus...but please also consider this one. The only true church is right outside your front door. To look around and see all that Creator has blessed us with. Then feel that joy in your heart....now you have found the one, true church right here on Mother Earth under Father Sky. Given to us by the Creator (God). And, even though it is nice to have, you don't even need to have others around in order to enjoy the blessings of this church. Nor do you have to have a big building, just the sky above.

Answer 2

O no he didn't! Way to make friends and influence people! I hope this is just a rumor. Otherwise, he's toast! You're right. It doesn't take a congregation to make a church. You have the ability to think for yourselves and can focus on all the positive energy of spirituality and feel upbuilt and also you get to avoid all the bs you hear from the preachers. They tell us that we can't pick and choose what to believe yet they can't see all the contraditory messages in the Bible. We all got to be free of that to get closer to God. It's too bad if the new Pope is not trying to be like Jesus and spread his message of unity among people around the world. By saying that his is the only true church, he is saying that he wants everyone in the world to follow him as that church's leader.

By the way, the Catholic church can't pay off all these abuse victims and expect people to just forget that these pedophiles were not prosecuted. They were merely moved to another church where they could find new victims. He should be ashamed for even thinking this way consequently and is putting the church back in the dark ages. Will there now be more burnings? I hope not. God help us. What about the abuse victims who were Native Americans or white children who were beaten at nunneries? He would be a fool to say that they have always been the only Christian church. Maybe he means that he would like that if we would just believe it. The Catholics have good qualities that make that dream almost possible. The leaders just have a lot of explaining to do. How do they explain people that only worship Jesus and not Mary or the saints? That would qualify that as more Christian, wouldn't it?

Answer 3

Apparently I'm not the only one who missed that speech.

If he actually said it (and a reference point or AP story would be appreciated here) then it certainly goes no distance in winning converts.

It sounds like a reiteration of the doctrine of "no salvation outside the Church" which was formulated quite a long time ago and has been softened over the centuries to a much less-stringent "If the Catholic Church hadn't been here, Jesus' teachings, including those in the Bible, would not have been preserved." Perhaps its a bit haughty, but the Catholic Church sees itself as the mechanism through which the Gospel was preserved for centuries.

And, with the exception of some ardent traditionalists, the Catholic Church has sort of a "leave us alone, we'll leave you alone" attitude, at least in the U.S.

Now, if the Church exists, by your formulation, where two or more are gathered in Christ's most sacred Name, then why exclude the Catholic Church, at least any parish where a minimum of one parishoner shows up at Mass?

By the way, I don't appreciate the garbage comment, but times being what they are, and anonymity on the 'net being what it is, you certainly have no problem saying that and don't care what I think. Perhaps you should join up with this crew:

http://www.landoverbaptist.org

who filed suit in state court asking for all Catholics and Catholic churches to be removed from a 10-mile radius.

Cheers!
V17

Answer 4

The Catholic is not the true church according to Acts Chapters 1-4. That is the church Jesus is coming back for and the pope is nothing but a man with a lot of followers. There won't be many, compared with the multitude, that will stand for Jesus in these last days but there will be a few.

Answer 5

It is true that Catholicism was the first organized Church. Other religions evolved from it, stemming from the time when Martin Luther broke away from it.

However, if you read the history of the Catholic Church, you will find a cesspool of corruption and torture, horrible Popes and rigid rules. Like most organizations set up by humans, they find some way to botch it up. And the hypocrisy goes on, with the fact that the pedophile priests were ignored, their victims paid off, the misdeeds forgiven.

Behind all of this human activity, there is a glowing and wonderful faith...a fact that is true of every religion, Protestant, Catholic, Mormon, whatever. It is as though faith is a glowing pot of gold, surrounded by greedy and often corrupt people trying to get power over it.

So, all one can do is try to siphon out the corruption and believe in the inner core of faith and beauty that is always in there somewhere. This poster says that "the only true church is where two or more are gathered in Jesus' name."

It is also true that God commands us to pray in a closet. So this is proof that one doesn't have to go to any church to believe in him. Just select a path and follow it, because it depends upon you. Churches are just flotsam and jetsam, it is you yourself that chooses a philosophy for your life and a faith to believe in.

Answer 6

The pope's proclamation is nothing new. The Catholic Church is the one true Church, always has been always will be. The Catholic Church is the only Church bearing the:

FOUR MARKS OF THE TRUE CHURCH

If we wish to locate the Church founded by Jesus, we need to locate the one that has the four chief marks or qualities of his Church. The Church we seek must be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.

The Church Is One (Rom. 12:5, 1 Cor. 10:17, 12:13, CCC 813–822)
Jesus established only one Church, not a collection of differing churches (Lutheran, Baptist, Anglican, and so on). The Bible says the Church is the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:23–32). Jesus can have but one spouse, and his spouse is the Catholic Church.

His Church also teaches just one set of doctrines, which must be the same as those taught by the apostles (Jude 3). This is the unity of belief to which Scripture calls us (Phil. 1:27, 2:2).

Although some Catholics dissent from officially-taught doctrines, the Church’s official teachers—the pope and the bishops united with him—have never changed any doctrine. Over the centuries, as doctrines are examined more fully, the Church comes to understand them more deeply (John 16:12–13), but it never understands them to mean the opposite of what they once meant.

The Church Is Holy (Eph. 5:25–27, Rev. 19:7–8, CCC 823–829)
By his grace Jesus makes the Church holy, just as he is holy. This doesn’t mean that each member is always holy. Jesus said there would be both good and bad members in the Church (John 6:70), and not all the members would go to heaven (Matt. 7:21–23).

But the Church itself is holy because it is the source of holiness and is the guardian of the special means of grace Jesus established, the sacraments (cf. Eph. 5:26).

The Church Is Catholic (Matt. 28:19–20, Rev. 5:9–10, CCC 830–856)
Jesus’ Church is called catholic ("universal" in Greek) because it is his gift to all people. He told his apostles to go throughout the world and make disciples of "all nations" (Matt. 28:19–20).

For 2,000 years the Catholic Church has carried out this mission, preaching the good news that Christ died for all men and that he wants all of us to be members of his universal family (Gal. 3:28).

Nowadays the Catholic Church is found in every country of the world and is still sending out missionaries to "make disciples of all nations" (Matt. 28:19).

The Church Jesus established was known by its most common title, "the Catholic Church," at least as early as the year 107, when Ignatius of Antioch used that title to describe the one Church Jesus founded. The title apparently was old in Ignatius’s time, which means it probably went all the way back to the time of the apostles.

The Church Is Apostolic (Eph. 2:19–20, CCC 857–865)
The Church Jesus founded is apostolic because he appointed the apostles to be the first leaders of the Church, and their successors were to be its future leaders. The apostles were the first bishops, and, since the first century, there has been an unbroken line of Catholic bishops faithfully handing on what the apostles taught the first Christians in Scripture and oral Tradition (2 Tim. 2:2).

These beliefs include the bodily Resurrection of Jesus, the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, the sacrificial nature of the Mass, the forgiveness of sins through a priest, baptismal regeneration, the existence of purgatory, Mary’s special role, and much more —even the doctrine of apostolic succession itself.

Early Christian writings prove the first Christians were thoroughly Catholic in belief and practice and looked to the successors of the apostles as their leaders. What these first Christians believed is still believed by the Catholic Church. No other Church can make that claim.

Answer 7

Jesus never applied the saying as you are applying it. If you read St. Paul and the other Epistles the Church is where the community gathers to worship God together. The Church also implied a hierarchy. The Apostles were Bishops. Their Apostolic Authority is what made the Corinthians and etc into Churches. They gave the faith to those cities.
There is more to Church than just two people gathering together. Read your Bible!

Answer 8

I always love to watch you bible-thumpers arguing amongst yourselves as to which fictitious belief system is right. If you truly want to learn from Christ's teachings, then you need to look for sources other then the bible... which was put together long after the death of Jesus and only includes stories (very loosely based on historical accounts) that furthered the agendas of The Church, and ensured that not only would The Church be powerful, but that it would encircle the Earth like a plague by convincing those that are duped into believing that they must convert others, and by creating the fictional place of Hell to try to terrorize people into following. Jesus was a great man. Too bad none of the Christians follow his teachings. If they did, there would be no church hierarchy.

Answer 9

Here is the full text of the new document that states nothing new: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070629_responsa-quaestiones_en.html

Most Christian denominations believe that each of them is the fullest version of the Church of Christ.

While the Catholic Church also believes that she is "the highest exemplar" of the mystery that is the Church of Christ, she does not claim that non-Catholic Churches are not truly Christian. The Catholic Church teaches:

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.

With love in Christ.

Answer 10

The Roman Catholic church claims to be the one and only true church by apostolic succession - in that they have the only true spiritual authority from Saint Peter through a succession of Popes from St Peter himself. They regard St Peter as the only person upon whom Christ founded his Church. So you can see why they would see themselves as the only true Christians. Of course you might see all this as untrue - but it doesn't make Pope Benedict a liar - but the victim of a lie.