The Vatican has put out a statement re. the Roman Catholic Church as "the true church," and other "churches" as "defective."
Here's the document.
Here's what I think is a very good non-Catholic response by Albert Mohler. I agree with Mohler that, when I heard about this, I was not at all surprised.
Here's, to me, the heart of the issue. The RC Church emphasizes historic documents coming out of their tradition more than they emphasize the New Testament teachings. Of course they believe such documents interpret the New Testament. But that, to me, is precisely the point.
Look how the Vatican document uses historic credal documents and official Vatican documents to support its reasoning. I, and many others like me, e.g., appreciate historical interpretations of Christianity, but look in the first place to Scripture. For me the footnotes would be Scriptures from the Bible, and supporting intepretations of those Scriptures.
The Vatican document has 20 footnotes, not one of them citing something from the New Testament, but all referencing RC documents. That is the issue.
