Pope Benedict has re-stated what the Church has always taught: Jesus founded the Catholic Church, which has faithfully passed on Christ's message. So what else is new?

What did indeed seem new in 1964 was the Second Vatican Council's declaration (Decree on Ecumenism) that the "separated Churches and Communities" could be regarded as "instruments of salvation." But the sentence where those epoch-making words occur continues "whose value derives from that fullness of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to the Catholic Church."

Pope Benedict's most recent document re-states both aspects of this teaching from the Second Vatican Council. Benedict identifies the Catholic Church with the one Church founded by Christ, but the Pope also states that elements of truth and salvation are present outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church.

I do not believe that Benedict's effort to clearly explain Catholic doctrine will undermine ecumenical efforts. The search for Christian unity is not about glossing over doctrinal differences; it is about trying to clarify points of agreement and disagreement, and going deeper in our understanding of the truth about God.