I greatly respect Father Jonathan but can’t the Pope make these things clear himself? I wish you were the head of the Catholic Church, Father, then maybe we would get somewhere, but you are not. We read what this Pope said. If he did not mean what the press communicated on his writings he should be the one to clarify it. Anyone can use their own beliefs and spin to try to tell us that the Pope is not excluding non Catholics from the Body of Christ but I want to hear that said from the head man himself.

You say the Pope does not believe all non Catholics will all go to hell but that is not the issue. Does he believe that believing Protestant Christians are in the Body of Christ?

I believe Pope John Paul said that he thought Muslims worshiped God and had a path to God — which of course is ridiculous within Christian theology — but I certainly am not saying that all Muslims will go to hell since some Muslims apart from their religious indoctrination could actually come to believe in the true Savior God and be saved. However, is that what Pope John Paul meant in his statement to the very leaders of this Satanic religion? If so, he certainly did not communicate that to me by kissing the Quran. So it is possible that Pope Benedict likewise could say some will be saved outside of the Catholic Church but also be saying that those who believe the doctrines of Protestantism are damned. In fact that is exactly what I believe the Catholic Church teaches he must say.

The Catholic church still retains over 100 anathemas (damnation’s) against Protestants. Until the Pope rescinds them — which he cannot do because of their infallibility — the Popes must continue to play word games with unintelligible expressions for some facade of unity so that those hearing what they want to hear rather then what was actually said will be placated. You know as well as I that this Church is not going to change and the only unification possible is for Protestants to return to Catholicism in spite of all its heresy.

What did the Pope say about Evangelicals recently in Latin America? It seems to me, if he actually thought that Evangelicals were bringing people to Christ he would not have taken such a belligerent tone against them.

Father Jonathan, I believe you are sincere but I also think you are writing wishful thinking here. I think it is up to the Pope to clarify what he said if he was actually taken wrong. Why is it that you can find the time to write extensively about what the Pope meant and what he believes but the Pope with his whole staff in the Vatican cannot communicate it?

FOXNews.com – Document Released By Pope Stirs Catholic Controversy – FOX Fan

If we read this document, therefore, as if it were a press release to media outlets, we simply won’t get it. The headlines I have seen in the mainstream media confirm most journalists are not theologians, and in this case didn’t bother to consult experts of sound, Catholic theology regarding what the debate is all about. Without a proper context, we read that the Pope says some non-Catholic Christian communities are not churches “in the proper sense of the word” — meaning, they are not part of the one Church Jesus established while on Earth — and think he is trying to say if a person’s name and address is not registered in the local Catholic parish, he or she is not going to heaven. The Pope doesn’t mean that. I’ll say it again; the Pope is not saying only registered, baptized Catholics can be saved, and any journalists or critic who says otherwise, has officially missed the point.