Are Protestants Damned?

Recently the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) released a document entitled "Responses to some questions regarding certain aspects of the doctrine of the Church". And even more recently it has come to my great surprise that there is actually some controversy surrounding it. I read with amazement this post on the Insight Scoop Blog outlining some of the misconceptions about it. Apparently there are people out there who believe that the document says that only Catholics can go to heaven. This is a tired misconception, however I feel I must respond lest there be a stone left unturned.

First off, the idea that Benedict would approve of such a statement damning all non-Catholics is simply preposterous. I was speaking to my wife about this idea and she was right to point out that Catholics recognize any baptism that uses the tridentine Trinitarian formula ("In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit") as valid - even if it is performed by a non-christian! Since baptism is the initiation into the Kingdom the idea that the church is damning the baptized is again preposterous. Now lets look at what the document actually does say regarding salvation of non-Catholics (emphasis added):

[quoting from Unitatis Redintegratio] It follows that these separated churches and Communities, though we believe they suffer from defects, are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation. In fact the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as instruments of salvation, whose value derives from that fullness of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to the Catholic Church

See now, the document actually says the exact opposite of the hysteria regarding the salvation of non-catholics.

Secondly, when in doubt always look to the Catechism. Without even reading the document one should know that the CDF would not contradict what the Catechism of the Catholic Church states regarding the catholic Dogma: Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus ("Outside the Church there is no salvation") CCC 846-847:

"Outside the Church there is no salvation"
How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:

Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.

This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:

Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience—those too may achieve eternal salvation

Thirdly, oddly enough there is nothing new in the document to speak of. I concur with Edward Peters' confusion about why it was released in the first place. Mostly the document attempts to clarify things written about in the other documents such as Lumen Gentium. (which was one of the two Dogmatic Constitutions released during Vatican II.) But does not advance any theology beyond what has already been understood.

Lastly, The document references Dominus Iesus in explaining why protestant christian communities are not properly called 'Churches'. Beyond what the document already says regarding that issue I would like to point out that the Catholic church distinguishes itself as the One True Church from other 'ecclesial communities' -as they are called (and have been called for some time, again there is nothing new here). There being only one Church, despite other communities possessing elements of truth, there cannot logically be another Church. Some of this is semantics because it comes out of a difference of what Protestantism and catholics mean when they say 'Church.' Although most protestants would agree that there is only one Church, it has generally been explained to me that their understanding is that that Church is a 'Church of spirit' if you will, and does not consist of any organized or visible unity. Therefore they are comfortable in saying that any ecclesial community is a Church (or more properly part of The Church), while Catholicism teaches (in brief) that the oneness of the Church must be more than a vague notion, it must be a "visible and spiritual community" that necessarily has these features: One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. Only the Catholic Church can claim all these qualities and therefore rightly lays claim to the title of The Church.