Are protestants members of Christs' Church?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hisalone
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Hisalone said:
Just wondering.
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Are protestants members of Christs’ Church? Some probably are. It’s got to be very difficult what with all of the false, man made doctrines they believe.

We know where Christs’ Church is, the Church which Jesus Christ founded is The Catholic Church. The difficulty is, We don’t know where it is not.
 
manualman said:
Context is quite important, if anyone is listening. IIRC, Leo was pope at the very beginning of the whole ‘reformation’ mess. At the time he spoke and wrote, there WERE no ‘protestants’ as we know them today (people who lived their whole lives never knowing anything BUT protestant theology and teaching). At that time there were only people who HAD been catholics, who should have known better, but were starting to spread false teaching in defiance of the Church’s authority. It was the very beginning of catastrophe and the pope tried to take strong measures to avoid the permanent rift we find ourselves in today.

What he said then applied to THAT situation (and perhaps applies to those in the Church today possibly contemplating schism to achieve their goals of women’s ordination, gay marriage, etc…). It does NOT apply to those brought up in protestant theology who sincerely believe it to be true and who have never had the priviledge of knowing and understanding the beauty and truth of the Catholic faith.
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If your reference is to Leo XIII, he followed Pius IX, in 1878.

GKC
 
roguejim said:
“Those who acknowledge Christ must acknowledge Him completely and entirely. The Head is the only-begotten Son of God; the Body is His Church. No one can in any way be counted among the children of God unless they take Jesus Christ as their Brother and, at the same time, the Church as their Mother. Christianity is, in fact, incarnate in the Catholic Church; it is identified with that perfect spiritual society which is the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ and has for its visible head the Roman Pontiff. Consequently, all who wish to reach salvation outside the Church are mistaken as to the way and are engaged in a futile effort. This is our last lesson to you; receive it, engrave it upon your minds, all of you: by God’s commandment salvation is to be found nowhere but in the Church.”
POPE LEO XIII
“The Catholic Church alone is the Body of Christ, of which He is Head and Savior. The “People of God” and the “Mystical Body of Christ” are one and the same thing, both of them designating the Church. Membership in the Church requires conditions other than Baptism alone; it requires identical faith and unity of communion, so that by means of the Catholic Church alone, which is the unrestricted instrument of salvation, is it possible to obtain the fulness of the means to salvation. Indeed, the Church is both a sure and an exclusive means of attaining salvation. We must always remember the unity of the Mystical Body outside which there is no salvation, for there is no entering into salvation outside the Church. Outside this Body, the Holy Spirit gives life to no one: those who are enemies to unity do not participate in the charity of Divine Life; those outside the Church do not possess the Holy Spirit. The entrance to salvation is open to no one outside the Church!”
POPE PAUL VI

“The Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church is the only true Church of Jesus Christ. It is error to believe that men can find the path of eternal salvation and attain eternal salvation in the practice of any religion whatsoever. It is error to believe that Protestantism is nothing other than a different form of the same true Christian religion, in which it is permited to please God equally as in the Catholic Church.”
Ven POPE PIUS IX

Is the question answered here?
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Great Reply! 👍
 
John.3

1:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Acts.2

1:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
 
LambOfGod said:
John.3

1:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Acts.2

1:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
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This is quite a pretextual usage of the scriptures.

There is the possibility of salvation for those not explicitly within the one flock and one shepherd. It is more difficult though, as they do not have the sacramental graces found only within the seven saacraments of the Catholic church, of which it takes the apostolic ministry of the priesthood to transmit the Eucharist, Holy orders, last rites and confession. There is much sanctification to be had in these sacraments. Also, the lack of understanding of absolute truth which lies in the non catholic religions can certainly be a downfall in the hope of salvation, including the understanding of the Godhead.
 
roguejim said:
“The Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church is the only true Church of Jesus Christ. It is error to believe that men can find the path of eternal salvation and attain eternal salvation in the practice of any religion whatsoever. It is error to believe that Protestantism is nothing other than a different form of the same true Christian religion, in which it is permited to please God equally as in the Catholic Church.”
Ven POPE PIUS IX

Is the question answered here?
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The question isn’t whether Protestatism is “equally” pleasing to God as Catholicism. The question is whether Protestants are “members” of the Catholic Church. Every baptized person is a “member” of the Catholic Church in the sense that baptism joins a person to the Body of Christ.
 
Does anyone have an easily quotable and official source for this information? :confused: Thanks!
 
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