The Congregation for the

Doctrine of the Faith, the

guardian of Catholic church

orthodoxy, issued a 36-page

declaration declaring that

attainment of "full salvation"

from earthly sin can come

only through the spiritual

grace of the Catholic church [AP]

ROME,  A new Vatican dictum issued today declares that individuals can attain full salvation from earthly sin only through the spiritual grace of the Catholic Church and that other faiths--including Protestant Christian ones--have defects that place their followers in a "gravely deficient situation" in seeking salvation.  [WP]

"Vatican document asserts that other faiths are inferior"

By R. Jeffrey Smith The Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, September 6, 2000  AAS

ROME -- A Vatican declaration issued Tuesday says that only faithful Catholics can attain full salvation from earthly sin, and that other beliefs -- including Protestant Christian ones -- have defects that render them inferior.

The goal, according to a top Vatican official, is to combat the "so-called theology of religious pluralism,"  which suggests that Catholics are on par in God's eyes with, say, Jews, Muslims or Hindus.

The statement drew reactions of dismay from other religious groups, with whom Pope John Paul II has sought to establish more peaceful and cooperative links over the past two decades. Muslim, Jewish and even Orthodox Christian leaders have repeatedly asked to be treated as equals in dialogue with the Vatican, an idea that the new statement explicitly circumscribes by reaffirming centuries-old claims of Catholic primacy.

Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, spiritual leader of Anglicanism, which includes the Episcopal Church, said "he idea that Anglican and other churches are not `proper churches' seems to question the considerable gains we have made,"  The Associated Press reported.

The World Council of Churches said it would be a "tragedy" if Christian cooperation was  "obscured by the churches' dialogues about their relative authority and status, however important they may be."

The Rev. Valdo Benecchi, president of the Methodist Evangelical Churches of Italy, said:  "It's a jump backwards in terms of ecumenism and with dialogues with other religions. . . . The salvation through Christ is not deposited in one religion only. This puts not only the Catholic Church at the center, but especially the Catholic hierarchy."

Issued after two years of study and timed to coincide with the millennial celebration of Jesus' birth, the document effectively delineates the boundaries of the Vatican's forbearance of other faiths.

As such, it reflects age-old Vatican anxieties about the dilution of Catholic authority, which church officials maintain comes directly from God through the pope. It also may grow from a heightened concern by church officials that Catholicism must remain competitive with Islam and other expanding faiths, particularly in East Asia and other battlegrounds for religious adherence in the developing world.

The document states that equality  "refers to the equal personal dignity of the parties in dialogue, not the doctrinal content"  underlining their religions. Without citing particular alternative religions, it describes others as inherently inferior because they depend on "superstitions or other errors (that) constitute an obstacle to salvation."

It also reminds Catholics that their duty is to "evangelize"  the adherents of other faiths during any dialogue, an idea that has rankled Orthodox Christian leaders, among others, who have long accused the Vatican of trying to convert their adherents.

I Tim. 2:4-6 "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.  For there is one God, and One mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." Eph. 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.                                                                                            [color highlights added for emphasis only] For additional reference on Catholic Doctrine and its relationship to Protestantism, refer to Amen Ministires web site Doctrine Models

The Vatican dictum sited above runs directly contrary to the Christian belief that every person has a direct access to God without any mediator other than Christ Himself.  Click on icon to the right for Holman Biblical Dictionary expository on the Priesthood-of-the-Believer.

Original Vatican documents released on September 5, 2000  by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith - click on icon

THE EMERGING CATHOLIC ECUMENICAL PAGANISM - CONTEMPORARY "HEATHENISM" [Court to the coming False Prophet]

Are there those now evidencing the admonishment of  Apostle Paul in Gal. 1:6-9 ?

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