Well, our Protestant friends now know that they are considered outcasts and basically heretics courtesy of the Pope.
All of this over the vaunted "Apostolic Succession" as if that truly meant anything...., after all, with all of the bad eggs in the line of succession it has not proven itself to be sacrosanct. They are not a breeding group....it is not like magic that rubs off.
Oh well.....some more spiritual turf war.
Of course, we would be considered burn at the stake worthy and have been in the past.....yikes!
I like Catholics better than like their church. Here in Massachusetts Catholics don't tend to be nearly as dogmatic as the pope-meister would like them to be. A few years back, my son when to a Catholic school, and at special gatherings there would be a Eucharist service. At least at the time, the Catholic Church only allowed members from one other church to celebrate Eucharist (I believe it was some eastern European church). My is Episcopalian and not technically allowed to participate. A fact that they knew, but the members insisted she participate. My wife being very liberal in such matter was very happy to participate.
Very true....most Catholics I know are very liberal in many ways and do not adopt the Papacy's position on many issues. Actually, his statement was not a surprise and probably is not new....it just seemed unnecessary. I am sure he sees it as the first step in trying to bring Europe back to the faith...a major concern of this Pope.
I find it amusing that the Pope comes out with this statement not long after the idea of Limbo was finally (more or less) abolished.
Ah well. Eruonen I agree that reviving Catholicism in Europe is one of the Pope's priorities-he even wants to revive the Tridentine Mass. Personally I also can't help but think that he sees the imminent death of the Church in the West and is instead turning toward the Third World as the future. A return to a more dominant church in a part of the world where so many are illiterate would give the Vatican considerable power over those people.
That could just be the cynic in me...