Traditionally, yes. //Edit// I was apparently unclear here. First off, I'd like to state that I'm not Catholic - or Christian - but from what I have been told (from a Catholic), you have to accept the beliefs of Catholicism and confess your sins in order to fulfill the Catholic requirements for heaven - which is essentially becoming a Catholic if not officially. Sorry for the misunderstanding. //End edit//

The Catholic Church leaves it up to God who will go to heaven or hell. That said, there are a couple things that must be said. First, the Catholic Church teaches that it is through baptism that a person is brought into the Catholic Church, and through the other sacriments that we are brought together in communion. They accept the baptisms which are done with the intent of the Church and in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Even though a protestant may not have full communion with the Catholic Church, they are to some degree part of the Catholic Church. There is also the doctrine of "Baptism of Desire" which says that if a man/woman truely desires, with his whole heart, to know and to love God, and they live a good life, then they can be saved. God loves us all, so he desires us all to be saved. He will have mercy on those who desire to know him. But, the Catholic Church does not declare how far this extends and to whom it extends, that is only God's knowledge.

I am Catholic and I never learned that in the Church. Anyone who is sorry for their sins and apologizes to God will go to heaven.

Catholics believe that anyone can go to heaven, they don't have to be Catholic as the ultimate decision is up to God. I think you will also find that Catholicism is one of the ONLY religious groups to teach this. Refer to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The reason that there is so much anti catholicism out there is because of people who are providing wrong information.

I am a Christian. I pretty much thought the mindset of ALL religions were "they are the right ones. I stay away from all who think this , including my own. Our job is to be teaching about God and Jesus and HIS WORD, not WE ARE THE ONES. God will judge all individually and he knows every heart. I do have to say I respect that of the Catholics but there is too much about them that I don't believe.

Perhaps the question is misguided in asking the opinion of catholics and not the doctrine of the catholic church. I have been told by christians that the only way to salvation(heaven) is through Jesus Christ our Lord. When I asked if everyone already dead BC was in purgatory, I was told no because they were not aware of our Lord. But anyone born after had no excuses? Personally I believe the attitude to be fundamentally un-Christian and against the teaching of Jesus.

no. where did you hear that?

No, they belive that Jesus died for EVERYONE. Even at Good Friday Mass we say prays for EVERYONE. Unlike other denominations, that teach only belevers are their brothers and sisters, they belive that every human in the world is their brother and sister, because everyone was created and loved by God. Therefor has a chance to go to Heaven.

I'm not sure where you guys are getting your information, but the Catholic church REQUIRES you to follow the sacraments and the word of the church. For example, if you don't believe mary was without sin, then your against the church and you goto hell. It is not only the word of God, but the infalable word of the pope you MUST listen to and agree with, or you are facing damnation. To be a Catholic (and to be saved in their eyes) you have to not just follow the written tradition of God (the bible), but also the oral tradition of the church (dogmas, popes "infalable" word). I personaly am a VERY devoit baptist, my long time friend and roommate is a VERY devoit pre-vaticin 2 Catholic (still says mass in latin, very conservative) and was in the siminarie for 2 years and went to school at St. Marys. We have nightly discussions about all of this, so I am very well informed on the Catholic church. Also to the person who said that you (Catholics) don't pray to mary. I'm not sure what Catholic church you goto, but you do pray to mary (think "Hail Mary"). Although I will say that the vaticins exscuse is they "pray to mary because she is closer to jesus than we". Also a requirment to goto heaven to catholics is to believe mary was born without original sin, and that the pope is infalable (ever since the 1800's anyway).

Historically yes they taught that and yes thats still on their dogma. But most Catholics I know personally including priests believe Gods grace extends to Protestants as well.

They have NEVER believed that. NEVER. See (for an obvious counter-example): the faithful Old Testament prophets, such as Noah, Abraham, King David, Isaiah, etc. These are considered SAINTS in Catholicism and have been so considered for centuries, despite never having been any sort of Christian during their lifetimes.