Well, some Protestants are not taking the document on Catholic primacy very well.

Consider this snippet:

The Rev. Setri Nyomi, general secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, published an open letter July 10 addressed to Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

“An exclusivist claim that identifies the Roman Catholic Church as the one church of Jesus Christ … goes against the spirit of our Christian calling toward oneness in Christ,” Rev. Nyomi wrote. “It makes us question the seriousness with which the Roman Catholic Church takes its dialogue with the Reformed family and other families of the church. It makes us question whether we are indeed praying together for Christian unity.”

Rev. Nyomi also said, “For now, we are thankful that our calling to be part of the church of Jesus Christ is not dependent on the interpretation of the Vatican. It is a gift of God.”

Thomas Wipf, president of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe, said the original characteristics of the church of Christ are preaching the Gospel and administering the sacraments.

“That — and no more — is needed to be able to be seen as an authentic expression of the one church of Christ,” he said.

“The Gospel, and not apostolic succession in the sacrament of ordination, constitutes the church,” he said. “We recognize the Roman Catholic Church as a church. It is and remains regrettable that this is not made possible the other way around.”

As some have noted, “Well, what do you EXPECT the head of the Catholic Church to say? That we’re all the same?” Fair enough. But I don’t think this matter is as settled as Rome would like to think — and I suspect we’ll be hearing “clarifications” and explanations for weeks to come.