What it means to be “catholic”, according to Rome

This blogpost is for all of you who think that Protestants can and should be “catholic” – the pope provided some relatively standard [from a Roman Catholic perspective] definitions of what it means to be “catholic” – it’s important that you make certain you clarify what YOU mean by being “catholic”, compared with what they mean.

From his address this morning:

First, the Church is catholic because she proclaims the apostolic faith in its entirety; she is the place where we meet Christ in his sacraments and receive the spiritual gifts needed to grow in holiness together with our brothers and sisters.

By “the apostolic faith in its entirety”, he means “the fullness of the faith”, which means, “you Protestants are lacking significantly by not accepting Roman sacraments such as penance, prayers to Mary, etc. It’s a euphemism for “your ‘eucharist’ or Lord’s Supper is fake,” for example.

The Church is also catholic because her communion embraces the whole human race, and she is sent to bring to the entire world the joy of salvation and the truth of the Gospel.

This is the “kumbaya” portion of Roman “catholicism” – they say “we want you all under our tent.”

Finally, the Church is catholic because she reconciles the wonderful diversity of God’s gifts to build up his People in unity and harmony.

This is euphemism for “we incorporate all kinds of cultures and cultural practices into our beliefs and practices” – the first instance having been the wholesale adoption of “household gods” and calling them “saints”, etc. More recently, they have adopted “postmodernism” and they tell us it was “catholic” all along.

There is great danger for diluting the Biblical gospel if you don’t first clarify your terms.