What did the Pope say recently about heaven through the church?

Question

I am hearing jarbled versions of what he said, can anybody enlighten me?

Answer 1

The Pope did not say anything. He simply approved a 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.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 819: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art9p3.htm#819

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

Here is the news story.
Pope: Other Christians not true churches
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer Tue Jul 10, 3:59 PM ET

LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy - Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation.

The statement brought swift criticism from Protestant leaders. "It makes us question whether we are indeed praying together for Christian unity," said the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, a fellowship of 75 million Protestants in more than 100 countries.

"It makes us question the seriousness with which the Roman Catholic Church takes its dialogues with the reformed family and other families of the church," the group said in a letter charging that the document took ecumenical dialogue back to the era before the Second Vatican Council.

It was the second time in a week that Benedict has corrected what he says are erroneous interpretations of the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-1965 meetings that modernized the church. On Saturday, Benedict revived the old Latin Mass — a move cheered by Catholic traditionalists but criticized by more liberal ones as a step backward from Vatican II.

Among the council's key developments were its ecumenical outreach and the development of the New Mass in the vernacular, which essentially replaced the old Latin Mass.

Benedict, who attended Vatican II as a young theologian, has long complained about what he considers its erroneous interpretation by liberals, saying it was not a break from the past but rather a renewal of church tradition.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Benedict headed before becoming pope, said it was issuing the new document Tuesday because some contemporary theological interpretations of Vatican II's ecumenical intent had been "erroneous or ambiguous" and had prompted confusion and doubt.

The new document — formulated as five questions and answers — restates key sections of a 2000 text the pope wrote when he was prefect of the congregation, "Dominus Iesus," which riled Protestant and other Christian denominations because it said they were not true churches but merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the "means of salvation."

The commentary repeated church teaching that says the Catholic Church "has the fullness of the means of salvation."

"Christ 'established here on earth' only one church," said the document released as the pope vacations at a villa in Lorenzago di Cadore, in Italy's Dolomite mountains.

The other communities "cannot be called 'churches' in the proper sense" because they do not have apostolic succession — the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ's original apostles — and therefore their priestly ordinations are not valid, it said.

The Rev. Sara MacVane, of the Anglican Centre in Rome, said that although the document contains nothing new, "I don't know what motivated it at this time."

"But it's important always to point out that there's the official position and there's the huge amount of friendship and fellowship and worshipping together that goes on at all levels, certainly between Anglicans and Catholics and all the other groups and Catholics," she said.

The document said that Orthodox churches were indeed "churches" because they have apostolic succession and enjoyed "many elements of sanctification and of truth." But it said they do not recognize the primacy of the pope — a defect, or a "wound" that harmed them, it said.

"This is obviously not compatible with the doctrine of primacy which, according to the Catholic faith, is an 'internal constitutive principle' of the very existence of a particular church," said a commentary from the congregation that accompanied the text.

Despite the harsh tone, the document stressed that Benedict remains committed to ecumenical dialogue.

"However, if such dialogue is to be truly constructive it must involve not just the mutual openness of the participants, but also fidelity to the identity of the Catholic faith," the commentary said.

The top Protestant cleric in Benedict's homeland, Germany, complained the Vatican apparently did not consider that "mutual respect for the church status" was required for any ecumenical progress.

In a statement titled "Lost Chance," Lutheran Bishop Wolfgang Huber argued that "it would also be completely sufficient if it were to be said that the reforming churches are 'not churches in the sense required here' or that they are 'churches of another type' — but none of these bridges is used" in the Vatican document.

The Vatican statement, signed by the congregation prefect, American Cardinal William Levada, was approved by Benedict on June 29, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul — a major ecumenical feast day.

There was no indication why the pope felt it necessary to release it now, particularly since his 2000 document summed up the same principles.

Some analysts suggested it could be a question of internal church politics or that the congregation was sending a message to certain theologians it did not want to single out. Or, it could be an indication of Benedict using his office as pope to again stress key doctrinal issues from his time at the congregation.

In fact, the only theologian cited by name in the document for having spawned erroneous interpretations of ecumenism was Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian clergyman who left the priesthood and was a target of then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's crackdown on liberation theology in the 1980s.

Answer 3

He reiterated that the Catholic church is the only Christian denomination (and therefore, the only religion) that has the true way to get to heaven. I received an email with these links a few days ago but I already deleted it, sorry.

Answer 4

The Holy Father, the infallible one, just stated that, "Only Catholics can enter the kingdom of heaven."

That means, all other religions are ballocks, and if you are not Catholic you're going to hell.

What a nice message to the world! It really shows the open minded grace that god has imbued him with.

Answer 5

While Rome (by circular reasoning*) exalts itself as the only infallible interpreter of Scripture, fostering implicit faith in herself, and criticizes the Biblical method (see Acts 17:2,11) of fostering qualitative unity, throughout the ages we see that having the Pope interpret Scripture requires that they need an interpreter for the Pope. Vatican two, no matter what kind of spin they put on it, radically redefined it's historical definition of salvation outside Rome. Such Bible reading/preaching souls (Huss, Wycliff, etc,.) that Rome burned at the stake became "separated brethren."

As it is easier to identify an enemy when he is not disguised, it is actually somewhat refreshing to hear Benedict not be a traitor to his historical church, and (escaping Muslim heat) denigrate evangelical Christians, many of which (like myself) were made alive by faith in the Biblical gospel of grace Rome does not preach, and so escaped the bondage of Rome to walk in newness of life. Praise be to God!

And while the pope exalts himself, and debases those who do not bow down to him, and fosters faith in the Roman Catholic Institution for salvation, the Bible exalts the Lord alone as the object of faith for salvation, while negatig Roe's presumption in propagating a perpetuated Petrine papacy.

In interpreting the gospels and thus Mt. 16 we are to look to their application and the doctrine behind them in the promised (Jn. 16:12-15) revelation of Christ in the rest of the New Testament. Searching therein we do not find even one command ever given to the New Testament church or churches to submit to Peter as a singular supreme pope, nor one example of them submitting to Peter as one (in Acts 15, James gives the definitive sentence), nor does Peter ever refer to himself as such, but as "an" elder and "an" apostle, and "a servant" (1Pt. 5:1; 2Pt. 1:1).

And in contrast to the Roman papacy, humble and pious Peter was evidently poor (Acts 3:6), and was married (Mt. 8:14; 1Cor. 9:4), would not even let a man bow down to him (Acts 10:25, 26). And as holy as he was, he once had to be publicly rebuked (Gal. 2:6-13).

For more see here: http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/papalpresumption.html

*according to our interpretation (of Mt. 16:13-19), only our interpretation can be correct in any conflict."

Answer 6

http://esoriano.wordpress.com/2007/07/17/the-roman-catholic-church-is-not-the-true-church-of-god/