Brothers by baptism, apart at the altar.

Summary

The Catholic Church teaches that “all who have been justified by faith in Baptism are members of Christ’s body” and “have a right to be called Christian”⁠.¹ Those born into the communities of the Reformation “cannot be accused of the sin involved in the separation”⁠,¹ and they “with good reason are accepted as brothers” by Catholics⁠.² Their communion with the Catholic Church is real and “imperfect”⁠.¹

The take: the Catholic Church calls these bodies ecclesial communities, not Churches in the proper sense, for one reason she states plainly. They “do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders,” and so “have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery”⁠.³ Justification, “a principal cause of the division of the Western church,” is the subject of the 1999 Joint Declaration with the Lutheran World Federation, which states “a consensus on basic truths of the doctrine of justification”⁠.⁴ Methodists, Anglicans and the Reformed later associated themselves with it⁠.^5,6 The questions that remain are the Church, the ministry and the sacraments⁠.⁴

What the Church says about baptized Protestants

“For men who believe in Christ and have been truly baptized are in communion with the Catholic Church even though this communion is imperfect”⁠.¹ The Council names what such communities keep: “the written word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope and charity”⁠.¹ It teaches that “the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation which derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Church”⁠.¹ It honors their love of Scripture and names the difference: “they differ from ours - some in one way, some in another - regarding the relationship between Scripture and the Church”⁠.¹

The Catechism says the separations happened “for which, often enough, men of both sides were to blame”⁠,⁷ and that these gifts “are in themselves calls to” Catholic unity⁠.⁷

Why the Church says ecclesial communities

The Council taught that these communities “have not retained the proper reality of the eucharistic mystery in its fullness, especially because of the absence of the sacrament of Orders”⁠.¹ The Latin text says “sacramenti Ordinis defectum”⁠.⁸ Dominus Iesus drew the conclusion: communities “which have not preserved the valid Episcopate and the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic mystery” “are not Churches in the proper sense”⁠.⁹ The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith explained it again in 2007, and Benedict XVI “ratified and confirmed these Responses”⁠.³

The same texts are clear about the person: “those who are baptized in these communities are, by Baptism, incorporated in Christ and thus are in a certain communion, albeit imperfect, with the Church”⁠.⁹

Baptism

“Baptism is conferred with water and with a formula which clearly indicates that baptism is done in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit”⁠.¹⁰ “Baptism by immersion, or by pouring, together with the Trinitarian formula is, of itself, valid,” and “The minister’s insufficient faith concerning baptism never of itself makes baptism invalid”⁠.¹⁰ Where a community’s practice is attested, “there is no reason for doubting the validity of the baptism conferred in their Churches and ecclesial Communities unless, in a particular case, an examination clearly shows that a serious reason exists”⁠.¹⁰

So a Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist or Baptist who becomes Catholic is not baptized again. Such persons “are to receive the sacrament of Confirmation according to the doctrine and rite of the Catholic Church”⁠.¹⁰

Justification: the Joint Declaration

“Opposing interpretations and applications of the biblical message of justification were in the sixteenth century a principal cause of the division of the Western church”⁠.⁴ On Oct. 31, 1999, the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church declared together: “By grace alone, in faith in Christ’s saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit”⁠.⁴ The declaration finds “a consensus on basic truths of the doctrine of justification” and holds that “the remaining differences in its explication are no longer the occasion for doctrinal condemnations”⁠.⁴

It does not cancel the Council of Trent. “Nothing is thereby taken away from the seriousness of the condemnations related to the doctrine of justification,” and “The teaching of the Lutheran churches presented in this Declaration does not fall under the condemnations from the Council of Trent”⁠.⁴ It names what is still open: “ecclesiology, ecclesial authority, church unity, ministry, the sacraments”⁠.⁴

Others have joined it. The World Methodist Council declared in 2006 that its common understanding of justification “corresponds to Methodist doctrine”⁠.⁵ The Anglican Consultative Council affirmed its substance in 2016, and the World Communion of Reformed Churches associated itself in 2017⁠.⁶ At Lund in 2016 Pope Francis and the Lutheran World Federation wrote that “what unites us is greater than what divides us,” and also: “We experience the pain of those who share their whole lives, but cannot share God’s redeeming presence at the Eucharistic table”⁠.¹¹

The Anglican Communion

Among the communities of the West, “the Anglican Communion occupies a special place”⁠.¹ In 1896 Leo XIII judged Anglican orders: “ordinations carried out according to the Anglican rite have been, and are, absolutely null and utterly void”⁠.¹² The Latin reads “irritas prorsus fuisse et esse, omninoque nullas”⁠.¹³ The reason given was a defect of form, to which “there was joined a defect of intention”⁠.¹²

The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission reported in 1982 “substantial agreement on the doctrine of the eucharist” and asked for “a reappraisal of the verdict on Anglican Orders in Apostolicae Curae (1896)”⁠.¹⁴ The Catholic Church answered in 1991 that the report was “a significant milestone,” but that “it is not yet possible to state that substantial agreement has been reached on all the questions studied by the Commission”⁠.¹⁵

In 2009 Benedict XVI answered Anglicans who asked “to be received into full Catholic communion individually as well as corporately”⁠.¹⁶ He created “Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church,” which may worship with “the liturgical books proper to the Anglican tradition, which have been approved by the Holy See”⁠.¹⁶ Former Anglican clergy may be ordained as Catholic deacons and priests⁠.¹⁶

Sarah Mullally was installed as Archbishop of Canterbury on March 25, 2026, and Pope Leo XIV wrote to her for the occasion⁠.¹⁷ Receiving her on April 27, he said that while “much progress has been made on some historically divisive issues, new problems have arisen in recent decades, rendering the pathway to full communion more difficult to discern,” and, echoing Pope Francis, that “it would also be a scandal if we did not continue to work towards overcoming our differences, no matter how intractable they may appear”⁠.¹⁸ They prayed Terce together in the Chapel of Urban VIII⁠.¹⁹

The Anglican Communion now

Divisions in the Anglican Communion over sexuality and authority, which Gafcon traces to 2003 and to its own founding in 2008⁠,²⁰ deepened in 2023. After the Church of England’s General Synod welcomed proposals for prayers of blessing for same-sex couples on Feb. 9, 2023⁠,²¹ the primates of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches said on Feb. 20 that they were “no longer able to recognise the present Archbishop of Canterbury,” then Justin Welby, as first among equals⁠.²² Gafcon’s Kigali Commitment of April 21, 2023, said the primates of both Gafcon and the Global South Fellowship “can no longer recognise the Archbishop of Canterbury as an Instrument of Communion”⁠.²³

On Oct. 3, 2025, Sarah Mullally was named Archbishop of Canterbury, “the first woman to hold the office,” the Church of England said⁠.²⁴ Gafcon said the appointment “abandons global Anglicans”⁠;²⁵ the Global South Fellowship called it “a missed opportunity to reunite and reform the Anglican Communion”⁠.²⁶ On Oct. 16 Gafcon’s chairman, Archbishop Laurent Mbanda of Rwanda, declared that “we are now the Global Anglican Communion”⁠,²⁷ and the next day the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion urged every church to come to the Anglican Consultative Council, “so everyone can participate in the decision-making”⁠.²⁸ Gafcon’s Abuja Affirmation of March 7, 2026, replaced its primates’ council with a Global Anglican Council⁠,²⁹ and on Oct. 1, 2026, Gafcon said: “The time for institutional negotiations with the Canterbury-led structures has passed”⁠.³⁰

The Global South Fellowship has said it “is staying within the Anglican Communion”⁠.³¹ It sent representatives from nine provinces to the Anglican Consultative Council in Belfast in June and July 2026⁠,³² where its delegates “abstained from partaking in Holy Communion”⁠.³³ That council acknowledged “our present divisions” and asked for a study of primacy and synodality drawing on the work of other churches, “such as the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church”⁠.³⁴ Archbishop Mullally has called the primates to Johannesburg for Feb. 28 to March 5, 2027⁠.³⁵

At Mechelen on Sept. 21, 2025, Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, said that “some member churches of the Anglican Communion no longer recognise any leadership role at all for Canterbury,” which causes the Catholic Church “both confusion and sadness”⁠,³⁶ and said that such division “makes reconciliation between separated communions and churches much more complicated to achieve”⁠.³⁶ Pope Leo XIV wrote to Archbishop Mullally that she began her ministry “at a challenging moment in the history of the Anglican family”⁠.³⁷ Receiving her on April 27, 2026, he spoke of new problems “rendering the pathway to full communion more difficult to discern,” and added: “I know that the Anglican Communion is also facing many of these same questions at this time”⁠.¹⁸

The Anglican Communion Office counts “42 member churches (also called provinces)”⁠.³⁸ Gafcon’s website says nine primates of the Communion’s provinces are “active supporters of Gafcon”⁠,²⁰ and the Global South Fellowship said in 2023 that “25 Provinces belong to, or are associated with the Fellowship”⁠.³⁹

The three Ordinariates, for Anglicans received into the Catholic Church with their own heritage, held “the annual gathering of the bishops of the three Ordinariates” in March 2026⁠,⁴⁰ and on March 26 the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published “Characteristics of the Anglican Heritage as Lived in the Ordinariates Established by the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus,” as Vatican News reported⁠.⁴¹

Evangelicals and Pentecostals

The Catholic Church holds formal conversations with both. A consultation with the World Evangelical Alliance from 1993 to 2002 described a movement “with its roots in the Reformation” that is “one of the most dynamic expressions of Christianity today”⁠.⁴² The international Catholic-Pentecostal dialogue reported in 2015 that “the Holy Spirit has never ceased to bestow his charisms on Christians in every age,” in a text that is “not an authoritative declaration of either the Catholic Church or of any of the Pentecostal Churches”⁠.⁴³

At a glance