Does the Catholic Church officially recognize Protestants as Christians? I have always thought that the Pope did not recognize the validity of the faith of those outside of the Catholic church, but in comments from a different post I am surprised to find out I may be confused. It may be because I read old books and things have changed in more recent history.

Most Protestants believe that anyone who genuinely believes in Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins is saved. I am one of them.  I believe simply believing in Christ without adding anything else to the mix, including church denomination, brings eternal life to anyone. 

My question is does the Catholic church accept that Christians like me have eternal life, yes, or no? If so, when did the Catholic church begin to recognize the faith of those outside of her church and understand that as believers they will be in heaven?

I am not interested in if Catholicism recognizes my baptism, or other sacraments that may have been administered to me, but rather the eternal life which has been granted to me by believing in Jesus.   I am interested to know if my salvation as a whole, outside the Catholic church, is recognized by my trust in Chrst?
From Catholic Answers article Does "no salvation outside the Church" include non-Catholic Christians?, non-Catholic Christians are specifically addressed in the Catechism:


  The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who
  are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the Catholic
  faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under
  the successor of Peter. Those who believe in Christ and have been
  properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion
  with the Catholic Church. With the Orthodox churches, this communion
  is so profound that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would
  permit a common celebration of the Lord’s Eucharist. (CCC 838)


The way I read this, the answer is "yes, but they don't have the full Truth. If they've been properly baptized and believe in Christ, they are associated with the Church, but imperfectly."

This agrees with Catholic Answers article What is the relationship between the Church and baptized Protestants?


  Full Question
  
  What relationship does the Catholic Church perceive to exist between
  itself and various Protestants (the baptized ones who still accept
  their faith)? 
  
  Answer
  
  Validly baptized Protestants are regarded as true Christian brothers
  and sisters who are in imperfect relationship with the Church. The
  nature of the imperfections is as varied as Protestantism itself. The
  idea at work here is that the faith is an incarnational thing, not
  just a "spiritual" (disembodied) thing—just like Jesus himself. Thus,
  it is possible to be out of union with the Church "bodily"
  (structurally, sacramentally, liturgically), yet still have a
  spiritual unity with the Church. Likewise, it is possible to be
  "bodily" united to the Church yet cease to be in communion with her
  spiritually (as an apostate Catholic is if he keeps going to Communion
  yet rejects the creed or continues unrepentant in grave sin). The
  latter form of disunity with Church is more serious than the former.


Also, from EWTN Global Catholic Network article Some Things That Catholics Do Not Believe (Item # 7):


  Catholics do not believe that Protestants who are baptized, who lead a good life, love God and their neighbor, and are blamelessly
  ignorant of the just claims of the Catholic Religion to be the one
  true Religion (which is called being in good faith), are excluded from
  Heaven, provided they believe that there is one God in three Divine
  Persons; *that God will duly reward the good and punish the wicked;
  that Jesus Christ is the Son of God made man, who redeemed us, and in
  whom we must trust for our salvation; and provided they thoroughly
  repent of having ever, by their sins, offended God.
  
  Catholics hold that Protestants who have these dispositions, and who
  have no suspicion of their religion being false, and no means to
  discover, or fail in their honest endeavors to discover, the true
  Religion, and who are so disposed in their heart that they would at
  any cost embrace the Roman Catholic Religion if they knew it to be the
  true one, are Catholics in spirit and in some sense within the
  Catholic Church, without themselves knowing it. She holds that these
  Christians belong to, and are united to the "soul," as it is called,
  of the Catholic Church, although they are not united to the visible
  body of the Church by external communion with her, and by the outward
  profession of her faith.
  
  Very different is the case of a person who, having the opportunity,
  neglects to learn from genuine trustworthy sources what the Catholic
  Religion is and really teaches, fearing, that were he to become
  convinced of the truth of the Catholic Faith, he would be compelled by
  his conscience to forsake his own religion, and bear the worldly
  inconveniences attached to this step. This very fear shows a want of
  good faith, and that he is not in that insurmountable ignorance which
  could excuse him in the sight of God, nut that he is one of those of
  whom it is said in Psalm xxxv. 4, "He would not understand that he
  might do well."
  
  Fairness, no less than common sense, teaches that a man should study
  and examine the teaching of the Catholic Church from Catholic sources
  before condemning her. Surely no man ought to reject Catholic doctrine
  if he has not made himself well acquainted with them. Nor is is fair
  to form a judgment from misrepresentations made by ill-informed,
  interested, or prejudiced persons; one should rather, by the study of
  authorized Catholic works, judge of the truth with that calm and
  unprejudiced mind which the all-important subject of Religion
  deserves. Thus having heard both sides, you will be in a state to pass
  a right judgment and not in danger of being misled by prejudice.
  
  Our Saviour gave no hope of salvation to the Samaritan woman unless
  she entered the one true Church of the tine, saying to her who was
  destitute of a sure guide: "You adore that which you know not; we
  adore that which we know; for SALVATION IS OF THE JEWS". (St John iv.
  22.) So likewise there is no salvation for any one who, having by God's grace come to the knowledge of the truth, obstinately refuses to
  join the true Church of God.


That third paragraph on, particularly the very last sentence, indicates to me that the hope of salvation for protestants doesn't extend to those that flat-out refuse to learn about what the Catholic Church really teaches.