Sep 9, 2026 · 28 min · 10 segments
Carl and Todd welcome Chris Castaldo back to the podcast to shed some light on the apparent trend of young evangelicals converting to Roman Catholicism. Chris, lead pastor of New Covenant Church in…
Todd PruittHost
Chris CastaldoGuest
Carl TruemanHost
How easy is it? And the reason I ask this is because my experience with some former Protestants who have at some point in recent years been brought into the Church of Rome.
I was even speaking to one of our church members recently who has a close friend who's recently left for the Church of Rome.
And one of the things I've heard in this particular person in my church who has a friend, she's been told this by her friend, that there's hardly any doctrinal differences between our Presbyterian Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
It's really just, I like the liturgy better, but doctrinally, I don't think there's hardly any difference whatsoever.
And of course, you hear that and you think, how can they think that? How can they have gone through the process of being formally received into the Roman Catholic Church and sincerely believe that the doctrinal differences are minimal? How does that happen? And I mean, I know we have evangelicals who don't know much evangelical doctrine.
I read a quote the other day by Peter Kreft, longtime professor at Boston College.
And in his statement, he said, in becoming Catholic, of course, he had been a Protestant.
And he retains all of those benefits and all of those gifts that the Reformation imparted, but he gains so much more.
And I thought, that's fascinating, coming from someone as learned and thoughtful as Peter Kreeft.
You would think that he would know that technically, actually, you have to leave behind sola scriptura and you have to leave behind sola fide.
I met this person not long ago, and they said, oh, I still believe in Sola Scriptura.
And maybe we're reading an emotive, but is there an approach – Is there an approach of Roman Catholic evangelism or outreach to Protestants that is intentionally very minimalistic in what they actually say about their doctrine? Is that something that perhaps is going on?
How easy is it? And the reason I ask this is because my experience with some former Protestants who have at some point in recent years been brought into the Church of Rome.
I was even speaking to one of our church members recently who has a close friend who's recently left for the Church of Rome.
And one of the things I've heard in this particular person in my church who has a friend, she's been told this by her friend, that there's hardly any doctrinal differences between our Presbyterian Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
It's really just, I like the liturgy better, but doctrinally, I don't think there's hardly any difference whatsoever.
And of course, you hear that and you think, how can they think that? How can they have gone through the process of being formally received into the Roman Catholic Church and sincerely believe that the doctrinal differences are minimal? How does that happen? And I mean, I know we have evangelicals who don't know much evangelical doctrine.
I read a quote the other day by Peter Kreft, longtime professor at Boston College.
And in his statement, he said, in becoming Catholic, of course, he had been a Protestant.
And he retains all of those benefits and all of those gifts that the Reformation imparted, but he gains so much more.
And I thought, that's fascinating, coming from someone as learned and thoughtful as Peter Kreeft.
You would think that he would know that technically, actually, you have to leave behind sola scriptura and you have to leave behind sola fide.
I met this person not long ago, and they said, oh, I still believe in Sola Scriptura.
And maybe we're reading an emotive, but is there an approach – Is there an approach of Roman Catholic evangelism or outreach to Protestants that is intentionally very minimalistic in what they actually say about their doctrine? Is that something that perhaps is going on?
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