The CDF's Pronouncement About the Catholic Church

Here's a statement which is unexceptionable.

...The document declares that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church -- or, in words the Vatican would prefer to use, the only institutional form in which the Church of Christ subsists.

...No one familiar with the statements of the Roman Catholic Magisterium should be surprised by this development. This is not news in any genuine sense....

...Benedict is truly a doctrinal theologian, whereas his popular predecessor, Pope John Paul II, was more a philosopher by academic training. Those familiar with the current pope know of his frustration with the tendency of liberal Catholic theologians and laypersons to insist that the Second Vatican Council (known popularly as "Vatican II") represented a massive shift (to the left) in Catholic doctrine. Not so, insisted Cardinal Ratzinger as head of the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith. Now, as Pope, Benedict is in a position to shape his argument into a universal policy for his church. Vatican II, he insists, represented only a deepening and reapplication of unchanging Catholic doctrine.

...Evangelicals should appreciate the candor reflected in this document. There is no effort here to confuse the issues. To the contrary, the document is an obvious attempt to set the record straight. The Roman Catholic Church does not deny that Christ is working redemptively through Protestant and evangelical churches, but it does deny that these churches which deny the authority of the papacy are true churches in the most important sense. The true church, in other words, is that church identified through the recognition of the papacy. Those churches that deny or fail to recognize the papacy are "ecclesial Communities," not churches "in the proper sense."

Up to this point, I have deliberately excised some portions of the statement to mask the identity of the author. While the above could have been written by almost any Roman Catholic Bishop, it was not.

It was written by Dr. Albert Mohler—"the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary-the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention

Dr. Mohler has more to say:

The artificial and deadly dangerous game of ecumenical confusion has obscured issues of grave concern for our souls. I truly believe that Pope Benedict and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are concerned for our evangelical souls and our evangelical congregations. Pope Benedict is not playing a game. He is not asserting a claim to primacy on the playground. He, along with the Magisterium of his church, believes that Protestant churches are gravely defective and that our souls are in danger. His sacramental theology plays a large role in this concern, for he believes and teaches that a church without submission to the papacy has no guaranteed efficacy for its sacraments.

Now for what you might expect from the good Dr.:

I actually appreciate the Pope's concern. If he is right, we are endangering our souls and the souls of our church members. Of course, I am convinced that he is not right -- not right on the papacy, not right on the sacraments, not right on the priesthood, not right on the Gospel, not right on the church

You can bet that Benedict XVI is not "offended" by Dr. Mohler's last sentence above.

Contrast Dr. Mohler to the pathetic mewling from this Milwaukee "Catholic."

The real men in this three-cornered dialogue are B-16 and Dr. Mohler. The "Catholic"? Fortunately, not a player.