A Sydney Anglican bishop says he feels "grief ’ to be reminded of the teachings that caused the great divorce between Christians during the Reformation, following the Vatican pronouncement that other churches are ‘defective’.
But Bishop Robert Forsyth says we shouldn't be shocked that the Pope has reaffirmed the long standing position of the Roman Catholic church.
"We have a deep love for our Catholic friends, but there is grief that the Vatican's new document has reminded us of our deep and irreconcilable differences," he said.
However he added that there remains respect between Roman Catholics and Anglicans based ‘on our common belief in Christ and the resurrection’.
In the new document released yesterday, Pope Benedict reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church and stated that Protestant denominations are "defective' and not true churches.
"People shouldn't be shocked by this," explained Bishop Forsyth. "Basically the Pope is saying he is a Roman Catholic."
Bishop Forsyth said this was not a mere disagreement over technicalities.
"There are real and significant disagreements within the key doctrines of salvation," he said.
"We should not be under any illusions that this is what Roman Catholics think."
In the latest document - formulated as five questions and answers - the Vatican seeks to clear up "confusion or doubt' provoked by "erroneous' assumptions about Catholicism's relationship to other churches.
It is effectively restates key sections of a 2000 document the Pope wrote when the then Cardinal Ratzinger headed up the Vatican's key doctrinal watchdog that Protestant churches lack the "means of salvation'.
The new document repeats the view that Protestant churches are merely "ecclesial communities' and not "Churches' according to Catholic doctrine.
"Specifically because of the absence of a sacrificial priesthood," the new Vatican document says. "[They] have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic mystery."
In contrast Anglicans, according to their 39 Articles, believe that the true church is anywhere ‘the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ's ordinance’.
