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Thursday, May 25, 2023

The Catholic Church's Definition of "Christian"

 A little different tack today. I am very careful not to parrot opinion or sterotype. I prefer to let people speak for themselves. As I like to put it, "I don't accuse 'em, I just quotes 'em."

Social network (GETTR) live-streamer and "influencer," Isabel Brown, groaned recently on her page, "Catholics are Christian too!" I suppose one too many Evangelicals questioned the status of Catholics as Christians. This would be a interesting gripe if not for the official doctrines of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church officially, and with great prejudice, condemns, specifically, the gospel held by Evangelicals (Trent, etc.). That's fine. That should end the discussion (on both ends). We acknowledge they have a right to believe what the want, just don't pretend to be some sort of victim. 

For the record,  I don't care what label you take, I'll fellowship with anyone resting in the Lord's work alone. If one does believe in the gospel of the free grace of God, I don't understand why he would stay in the CC, but that's a horse of a different color. As to who is a true "Christian" however, Isabel's chosen church of affiliation has very clear opinion (and they're not very nice about it).

A few quotes from countless like them, covering a millenia or more:


"To be Christian one must be Roman. One must recognize the oneness of Christ’s Church that is governed by one successor of the Prince of the Apostles who is the Bishop of Rome, Christ’s Vicar on earth."
-Pius XII (1957)

"So long as the member lives in the body, it lived; separated, it lost its life. Thus the man, so long as he lives in the body of the [Catholic] Church, he is a Christian; separated from her, he becomes a heretic."
-Leo XIII

"He who confesses the doctrine of Jesus Christ in his Church. Hence, he who is truly a Christian thoroughly detests all cults and sects found outside the doctrine and outside the Church of Christ, everywhere and among all peoples, as for example the Jewish, the Mohammedan, and the heretical cults and sects."
-St. Peter Canisius

"[The CC] firmly believes, confesses and preaches that no one outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but neither Jews nor heretics and schismatics, can become partakers of eternal life, but will go into eternal fire 'which was prepared for the devil and his angels' (Mt. 25:41) unless before death they are joined with Her... No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ can be saved unless they abide within the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church."
-Eugene IV
And from the current catechism, released by the Magisterium under the auspices of "Saint" John Paul II in 1994 concerning me (condemned) and you (the Catholic Church is saving you from a distance, heretic):




YOU MUST BE BAPTIZED! Oh, except Muslims, Hindus, Animists...



And we have not even scratched the surface of the many caveats on their doctrines regarding baptism and non-Christian religions. The Paulist order (which the imprimatur of the Archbishop of Newark) taught that other religions (and even atheists) are just climbing the same mountain, but on the other side [Faith of Catholics: An Introduction by Richard W. Chilson, Paulist Press, 1978]. It's a free-for-all meant to deceive. 

Let us remind ourselves, again, of this "infallible" decree:



"Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved.”



They'll say whatever works, on any particular day, to try and fool Evangelicals (I know, I was trained in the art of deception as a Religious Education Teacher in the CC), but they have never departed from "Christian = Catholic."

Isabel is offended if someone questions whether she's a Christian or not while her church condemns non-Catholic believers over and over and over while also insisting that only Catholics are real Christians?


I have less than zero sympathy for Miss Brown.