Roman Catholic church teaches that Protestant churches are not in fact churches, as they do not have apostolic tradition of ordinations, and therefore, do not have valid eucharist, nor are they in full communion with the successor of Saint Peter, the Pope. It does however recognise the shared apostolic tradition of the Eastern Orthodox church. Whilst it maintains that all salvation comes through the church, this leaves scope for the salvation of other Christians with an imperfect communion with the Roman Catholic church, i.e. Protestants. cBrien, Catholicism, 19-20.
^ Block, Matthew (24 June 2014). "Are Lutherans Catholic?". First Things. Retrieved 14 July 2015. The universality of the Church is, through God's grace, a reality despite doctrinal disagreements; but it is not a license for the downplaying of these doctrinal differences. The Church catholic is also the Church apostolic—which is to say, it is the Church which "stands firm and holds to the traditions" which have been taught through the words of the Apostles (2 Thessalonians 2:15). And this teaching—which is truly the Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:19-21)—has been passed on to us today in its fullness through the Scriptures. To be catholic, then, is to be heirs of the apostolic faith. It is to be rooted firmly in the Apostle's teaching as recorded for us in Scripture, the unchanging Word of God. But while this Word is unchanging, it does not follow that it is static. The history of the Church in the world is the history of Christians meditating upon Scripture. We must look to this history as our own guide in understanding Scripture. To be sure, the Church's tradition of interpretation has erred from time to time—we find, for example, that the Fathers and Councils sometimes disagree with one another—but it is dangerous to discount those interpretations of Scripture which have been held unanimously