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Some Protestants hold that Catholicism is not a sect of Christianity due to a number of beliefs, such as the different requirements for salvation.

I don’t know how common this belief is in the US but I personally have encountered a number of people that believe this.

Interesting, I have never heard of that. Which is funny because Catholicism is far older than Protestantism

They were one and the same until some people protested against the Catholic church telling people they could buy their way into Heaven - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety-five_Theses

The sale of indulgences didn't work quite like that. The Catholic Church, like the Orthodox, has free confession which is the stairway to heaven.

The sale of indulgences was a charitable donation done to mitigate the penalties of Purgatory.

Abuses were committed, but the telling of the protestants is quite fantastic. It was not, for example, a get-of-Hell sale