I assume that you are still learning about Catholicism and this episode could be confusing to you, so I’ll try to give an explanation which goes beneath the surface. What you have encountered with that post is actually the result of changes in the Catholic Church since the 1960’s, and the way these changes are sometimes argued, particularly on the internet. Please be patient while I explain it.
First of all, you should be aware of the Catholic Church’s overall response to non-Catholic Christians. In summary:
- We affirm that the Catholic Church, under Peter (ie. the Pope), is the one true Church of Christ
- We believe that the historical separations should not have happened, but that there was often fault on both sides
- We regard all who are baptised in Christ as fellow Christians, and we value all that we have in common, and we respect the Truth and elements of salvation found outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church.
- We do not hold those Christians who are not in full communion as responsible for historic differences.
- We believe that it is the responsibility of all Christians, Catholic and others, to seek unity.
These points largely arose out of the Second Vatican Council of the 1960’s, and are accepted by most Catholics.
See the
Decree on Ecumenism.
The teachings of the council were not different from what had previously been taught, but there was certainly a new emphasis, ie. an emphasis on respect and what we have in common.
However, there are a number of extreme “Traditionalists” (who must be distinguished from other traditionalists) who believed that these statements of ecumenism were new, and are a departure from the historic faith. Some of these left the Church, and others remained in the Church, but disgruntled. They published their arguments, citing previous Church documents to support their point of view. These arguments are now all over the web.
So, you will occassionally meet Catholics who are strongly anti-ecumenical. You will encounter them in real life and in forums. Some of them belong to schismatic communions who reject Vatican II, but most don’t. They have their “proof texts” from historic documents, just as some anti-Catholics have their “proof texts” from the bible. They treat the ecumenism of Vatican II and in the Church since then as suspicious, or even heretical.
That is how an obscure letter from the Pope to Swiss Catholics in 1875 can appear as an argument against worshipping with Protestants in a CAF thread in 2012. It is very unlikely that the poster found the document himself, or even read it. He would have just found the useful extract (“proof text”) in an extreme Traditionalist web site. (eg.
this one).
