Hide Baptism Records from Mormons, says Vatican

Because aiding kooky practices doesn't help ecumenism:

In an effort to block posthumous rebaptisms by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Catholic dioceses throughout the world have been directed by the Vatican not to give information in parish registers to the Mormons' Genealogical Society of Utah.

An April 5 letter from the Vatican Congregation for Clergy, obtained by Catholic News Service in late April, asks episcopal conferences to direct all bishops to keep the Latter-day Saints from microfilming and digitizing information contained in those registers.

The order came in light of "grave reservations" expressed in a Jan. 29 letter from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the clergy congregation's letter said.

Father James Massa, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said the step was taken to prevent the Latter-day Saints from using records -- such as baptismal documentation -- to posthumously baptize by proxy the ancestors of church members.

Posthumous baptisms by proxy have been a common practice for the Latter-day Saints -- commonly known as Mormons -- for more than a century, allowing the church's faithful to have their ancestors baptized into their faith so they may be united in the afterlife, said Mike Otterson, a spokesman in the church's Salt Lake City headquarters

Of note:

The letter is dated 10 days before Pope Benedict XVI's April 15-20 U.S. visit, during which he presided over an ecumenical prayer service attended by two Mormon leaders. It marked the first time Mormons had participated in a papal prayer service.

I don't think one need take their inclusion as any sort of endorsement. This was an ecumenical dialogue, not an inter-christian summit. Mormon baptism is invalid, which renders them non-christian.

update: Utah bishop responds to Vatican policy on Mormons (CWNews)

Christian Post suggests Obama believes "Jesus Christ Not the Only Way to Heaven"

Jennifer Riley interpreting recent comments made by Barack Obama:

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama suggested Wednesday that Jesus Christ is not the only way to heaven during a campaign event in North Carolina.

While answering a question about his Christian faith, Obama said he believes that Jesus Christ died for his sins and through God’s grace and mercy he could have “everlasting life,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

But he also believes Jews and Muslims and non-believers who live moral lives are as much “children of God” as he is, according to The Associated Press.

As an example, he spoke about his late mother who was “not a believer.”

The author seems to imply that Obama's comments should provoke a sharp response from Christians. I think, however, that she is missing a helpful distinction: while it is true that anyone who is saved from original sin is saved only in Jesus Christ, it is not true that every person need explicitly believe that truth in order to be saved.

This teaching answers the quandary posed by the hypothetical "noble pagan" or "noble savage" dilemma ("how can those who never had the opportunity of knowing Jesus Christ be saved from their sin?"). All Catholics can certainly hope that a Jew, Muslim or athiest might be saved in the mercy of Christ, while clearly we should also wish that they might come to know and believe in Jesus Christ if it is possible.

However, when pressed, would Obama say that Jesus is always the unique savior of every human being, even if He is only "clearly perceived in the things that have been made" (Rom 1:20)?

That's a question I can't answer for him.