Thoughts on the Pope's Statement about the Church

The Boston Globe had an article today on the Pope's latest document saying that the Roman Catholic Church provides the only true path to salvation and that all other churches are defective or not true churches.

I was saddened to see that he had done this. I have had great respect for Pope John XXIII who called the the second Vatican Council and who referred to Protestant's as "separated brethren." Clearly, in my opinion, this is a step backward. As the article notes, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches put out a statement saying, "It makes us question whether we are indeed praying together for Christian unity...It makes us question the seriousness with which the Roman Catholic Church takes its dialogues with the reformed family and other families of the church."

I would suggest that you visit Scot McKnight's blog about his latest statement. I think that he has some interesting thoughts about it and he includes some verbatim parts of the statement. What do you think about the Pope's statement and do you think this will significantly impact ecumenical dialogue?