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Roman Catholicism's Recent Claim That It Is the True Church
Excerpt from the Trinity Review, January 2008
In concert with this deliverance, on July 10, 2007, some eleven days later, Benedict XVI declared that churches outside of the Roman Catholic Church are "wounded" churches because they are not in communion with the Roman papacy. While the Roman Church regards the Orthodox churches as "true" churches they nevertheless suffer one wound -- they do not submit to the primacy of the pope. But the "wound [of Protestant communities] is still more profound" because they have no sacramental priesthood and thus no true Eucharist. The candor here is refreshingly abnormal for Rome; all too often its deliverances are conundrums wrapped in obfuscations. So I am grateful that Ratzinger/Benedict XVI has drawn the lines much more clearly than did his recent predecessors. By this Response and Benedict XVI's statement Rome denies that Protestant churches have the right to call themselves churches, stating that at best they are "ecclesial Communities." (By definition, "ecclesial" means "churchly," so Rome winds up doing what it says should not be done.) Of course, there is nothing new here except the terminology. Rome has claimed since the Middle Ages that it is the "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church." Why? Because of the presence within it of the Roman papacy, its claim to apostolic succession, and its priestly sacerdotalism. This is the defining issue for Rome.
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