WHO IS MARTIN LUTHER - 2
Early Catholic Images of Luther
Pope Leo X (1513-1521) asked the Augustinians
to look into the Augustinian German priest who was disseminating “novas res…
nova dogmata” among the faihtful.
The Dominicans
in Germany, sympathizing with Johann Tetzel their confrere and archenemy of
Luther on the matter of the sale of indulgences, started preaching about this
“heretic” to the people, warning them that this man undermined religious
practice and departed from standard Catholic teaching. Further, they surmised
about his eventual disgraceful defeat and possible death at the stake.
Later attempts to apprehend
Luther through canonical process showed that he was to be tried as a “suspect
of heresy.” The pope, ordering an upgraded process of inquiry on the man and
his teachings wrote that Luther was a known and obstinate “teacher of heresy.”
(Jared Wicks, Roman Reactions to Luther,
1983, p. 528)
Dominican Cardinal Cajetan, the man who was to represent Rome in evaluating
the orthodoxy of the positions of Luther, exhibited moral reserve against
immediately issuing a judgement on Luther, although he instinctively found
censurable points in the German’s thoughts. Cajetan’s final evaluation, added
to the obstinacy judged from Luther’s own behavior during the examinations,
however surely had a powerful effect on the definitive actions to come through
the papal pronouncement of Pope Leo X.
Catholic Images of Luther in Documents
The official church portrait of
Luther came through the two papal responses to the crisis caused by the
Augustininan from Germany and the increasing number of princes and people he
later influenced. On June 15, 1520, the pope issued a warning to Luther,
identifying 41 erroneous teachings in his theological opinions. The papal bull,
Exsurge Domine, called Luther the “new
Porphyry.” (Porphyry was an ancient neoplatonic enemy of the early Christians,
who pointed out the defects of Christian beliefs and taught the Jesus must be
regarded only as a learned philosopher.) This official document likened Luther
to heretics who employed malicious sophistry to advance their cause.
But in a
compassionate note, the papal missive referred to Luther as the “prodigal son”
who could still be received kindly once he realized his need for reconciliation
with the church. Pope Leo gave
Luther time to reconsider his positions and to signify his desire to submit to
ecclesiastical authority by renouncing his convictions.
When Luther refused to comply
with the demand for submission, Pope Leo X issued a second papal bull, this
time, condemning Luther as a heretic and therefore, excommunicating him from
the Body of Christ. The title of
the bull says it all: Decret Romanum
Pontificem of January 3, 1521 is the document “On the Condemnation and Excommunicaton of Martin Luther, the Heretic
and his Followers.”
In this document, Luther is
described as a “slave of depraved mind” for insisting on confessing beliefs at
variance with traditional doctrines. As an excommunicate, Luther received the
most severe penalty that can be imposed by the Church on its members. He was to
be excluded from the reception of the sacraments, and impeded from enjoying the
spiritual bond with the Church’s teaching, sanctifying and pastoral offices.
The Council of Trent, convoked in
1545 to respond to the Reformation crisis, did not mention Luther by name,
although some of that Council’s declarations of anathemas were directed to
principles put forward by Luther and his followers. In the Council however,
strictly followed was the principle that no author should be denounced unless
his writings have been subjected to the most accurate and sedulous study.
Prior to the Council, a catalogue of
erroneous Lutheran tenets were compiled by Luther’s literary opponents. Johann
Cochlaeus produced a list of 500 errors, while Johann Faber collected more than
600 false teachings of Luther.
