Pope Has Gone Astray

In a recent statement by Pope Benedict XVI, he "reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation."
He also stated, "Christ 'established here on earth' only one church, [the other communities] cannot be called 'churches' in the proper sense because they do not have apostolic succession - the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ's original apostles - and therefore their priestly ordinations are not valid."

Wait for it....

Is the pope really saying that only those who have knowledge passed down from the actual disciples are allowed to form churches and designate who is saved and who is not? This takes God from each individual and puts in the hands of the few - only these special few are allowed to dispense the truth, create churches and can tell others that they must join their church or not be saved. This is not just a complete misunderstanding of what Jesus taught, but more importantly, a sign that the catholic faith is no longer tenable as a religion. Requiring your followers to adhere to specific regulations about eating, praying and worshiping is one thing (bad in itself: see number 6 here: Thomas Gospel), but not tolerating others is blatantly against the teachings of Jesus. How can the Pope stand behind such religious bigotry?