Is anyone really surprised? The Vatican has come out and restated that the one true Church on earth subsists in the Catholic Church.
Second Question: What is the meaning of the affirmation that the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church?There are statements, clarifying the position of Orthodox Churches.
Response: Christ "established here on earth" only one Church and instituted it as a "visible and spiritual community" (5), that from its beginning and throughout the centuries has always existed and will always exist, and in which alone are found all the elements that Christ himself instituted. (6) "This one Church of Christ, which we confess in the Creed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic […]. This Church, constituted and organised in this world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him" (7).
In number 8 of the Dogmatic Constitution "Lumen Gentium" ‘subsistence’ means this perduring, historical continuity and the permanence of all the elements instituted by Christ in the Catholic Church (8), in which the Church of Christ is concretely found on this earth.
It is possible, according to Catholic doctrine, to affirm correctly that the Church of Christ is present and operative in the churches and ecclesial Communities not yet fully in communion with the Catholic Church, on account of the elements of sanctification and truth that are present in them. (9) Nevertheless, the word "subsists" can only be attributed to the Catholic Church alone precisely because it refers to the mark of unity that we profess in the symbols of the faith (I believe... in the "one" Church); and this "one" Church subsists in the Catholic Church. (10)
Related Link: Summer Assignment: Restudy the Doctrine of the Church
Fourth Question: Why does the Second Vatican Council use the term "Church" in reference to the oriental Churches separated from full communion with the Catholic Church?And on Protestant "Churches", which cannot be properly called "Churches".
Response: The Council wanted to adopt the traditional use of the term. "Because these Churches, although separated, have true sacraments and above all – because of the apostolic succession – the priesthood and the Eucharist, by means of which they remain linked to us by very close bonds" (13), they merit the title of "particular or local Churches" (14), and are called sister Churches of the particular Catholic Churches (15).
"It is through the celebration of the Eucharist of the Lord in each of these Churches that the Church of God is built up and grows in stature" (16). However, since communion with the Catholic Church, the visible head of which is the Bishop of Rome and the Successor of Peter, is not some external complement to a particular Church but rather one of its internal constitutive principles, these venerable Christian communities lack something in their condition as particular churches (17).
On the other hand, because of the division between Christians, the fullness of universality, which is proper to the Church governed by the Successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him, is not fully realised in history (18).
Fifth Question: Why do the texts of the Council and those of the Magisterium since the Council not use the title of "Church" with regard to those Christian Communities born out of the Reformation of the sixteenth century?One Anglican Bishop is not offended. One of many, hopefully.
Response: According to Catholic doctrine, these Communities do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church. These ecclesial Communities which, specifically because of the absence of the sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery (19) cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called "Churches" in the proper sense (20).
Anglican bishop Robert Forsyth, of Sydney — the city where Catholics and Anglicans are regarded as strict — said Anglicans were not offended.When it comes down to it, if you are not Catholic, why should you care what the Catholic Church thinks about itself? The Catholic Church over it's two thousand year history has always said it was the one true Church established by Jesus Christ. If you don't believe that to be true, no one's going to come after you with a rosary and force you to believe.
''It means the Pope is a Catholic, actually," Bishop Forsyth said.
"Of course, they would think that — we think they're a bit dodgy, too, but we've come a long way from saying the Pope is the antichrist.
Related Link : Pope is Catholic, but is not the antichrist
On a related matter, I've been exercising my apologetics brain on A Servant's Thoughts recently. I'm still a bit of novice when it comes to doing so, so don't expect too much. I'm not finished yet either, just having a break for an indeterminate period of time. I'm regarding the whole process more as something for myself as a means to find the gaps in my knowledge.