Lying For Luther

 

On April 7th of this year, the Argentinian apostate, Jorge Bergoglio (aka "Pope" Francis), calumniated a true pope:

Pope Francis on Thursday recalled the 500th anniversary of the election of Pope Adrian VI, who sought reconciliation between the Catholic Church and Martin Luther during his short pontificate.

“In his brief pontificate, which lasted only a little more than a year, he sought above all reconciliation in the Church and the world, putting into practice the words of St. Paul, according to which God entrusted precisely to the apostles the ministry of reconciliation,” Pope Francis said on April 7.

For this reason, Adrian VI sent the nuncio to the Imperial Diets of Nuremberg “to reconcile Luther and his followers with the Church and expressly asking forgiveness for the sins of the prelates of the Roman Curia,” he stated.

“Courageous,” Francis added. “He would have plenty of work today.”

Pope Francis spoke about Adrian VI, who was elected in 1522, during a meeting at the Vatican with the community of the Pontifical Teutonic Institute of Santa Maria dell’Anima, a college for German seminarians in Rome.

Adrian VI is buried in the Roman church Santa Maria dell’Anima, which is connected to the seminary. 

Born in Utretcht, then part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, Adrian was the last non-Italian pope before the election of the Polish Pope John Paul II in 1978.

Pope Francis noted that, “in the political sphere, overcoming much resistance, [Adrian VI] worked to reach an agreement between the two bordering powers, King Francis I of France and Emperor Charles V of Habsburg, also so that together they could stem the increasingly threatening designs of conquest by the Ottoman army.”

“Unfortunately, Pope Adrian, due to his premature death, was unable to conclude any of these projects. Nevertheless, his witness as a fearless and tireless worker for faith, justice and peace remains alive in the memory of the Church,” Francis said.

He urged the members of the college seminary to follow the example of Pope Adrian VI to grow in their vocation as servants of the Church.

“In particular, thinking of his solicitude for the promotion of concord and reconciliation, I urge you to follow in his footsteps above all in your role as ministers of the sacrament of penance. This is important: The task of the confessor is to forgive, not to torture. Be merciful; be great forgivers: That is what the Church wants you to be,” he said.

“This means giving time to listening to confessions and doing it well, with love, with wisdom and with great mercy.”(See ncregister.com/cna/pope-francis-praises-adrian-vi-s-attempt-to-reconcile-with-martin-luther). 

Did Pope Adrian VI seriously "ask forgiveness for the sins of the Roman Curia" from Lutheran heretics? One immediately gets images of Wojtyla (JP II) wringing his hands and shedding crocodile tears as he "apologizes" to 

• women
• Jews
• those convicted by the Inquisition
• Moslems killed in the Crusades
• anyone else the Church "wronged"

He went so far as to "celebrate" a day of "Prayer for the Forgiveness of the Sins of the Church" on March 12, 2000. The name is blasphemous, as the members of the Church may sin, but the Church Herself cannot give evil. From July 24 to 29, 2022, Bergoglio visited Canada on a "penitential pilgrimage" for the supposed abuse of the Catholic Church in her treatment of the Native Indians, and "subversion of their [pagan] culture" by the "white European devil." 

Since the Church has been "driven underground" by Vatican II and without a visible Head since 1958, most can be forgiven if they thought this is what Pope Adrian VI was doing. For Bergoglio, who was raised pre-Vatican II and was educated in the Faith, there is no such excuse. According to Church historians Neill and Schmandt:

Adrian had been shocked at the conditions he found in Rome. The cardinals who met him were indistinguishable in dress and appearance from worldly princes. Rome was a motley collection of parasites, prostitutes, armed retainers, and diverse hangers-on who all partook one way or another of the Church's revenues. (See The History of the Catholic Church, [1957], pg. 360).  

To be clear, the problem was involving money, not Church teaching. He regretted genuine scandal given by these clerics, but never said it was a rightful cause of the so-called "Reformation." New World Encyclopedia has this to say:

Adrian came to the papacy in the midst of one of its greatest crises, threatened not only by Lutheranism to the north but also by the advance of the Ottoman Turks to the east. He refused to compromise with Lutheranism theologically, demanding Luther's condemnation as a heretic. However, he is noted for having attempted to reform the Catholic Church administratively in response to the Protestant Reformation. His efforts at reform, however, proved fruitless, as they were resisted by most of his Renaissance ecclesiastical contemporaries, and he did not live long enough to see his efforts through to their conclusion. (See newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Pope_Adrian_VI; Emphasis mine). 

Finally, Adrian had a tendency to exaggerate, which the enemies of the Church used to their advantage:

His [Pope Adrian's] exaggerated acknowledgment that the Roman Court had been the fountainhead of all the corruptions in the Church was eagerly seized upon by the Reformers as a justification of their apostasy. (See newadvent.org/cathen/01159b.htm; [1913 Catholic Encyclopedia]; Emphasis mine). Pope Adrian VI was not on bended knee, asking Luther for "forgiveness;" he acknowledged the worldliness of some clergy and asked Luther and his followers to renounce their heresy and return to the One True Church, outside of which no one can be saved. 

This is not the first time in his false pontificate that Bergoglio has praised Luther. Twice (2016 and 2021), Francis placed a statue in the Modernist Vatican of arch-heretic Luther. In 2016, to begin the "celebration" of the 500th anniversary of the "Reformation" in 2017, Bergoglio said of Martin Luther:

The Church's greatest reformers are the saints, in other words the men and women who follow the Word of the Lord and practice it. This is the path we need to take, this is what reforms the church and they are great reformers. They may not be theologians, they may not have studied, they may be humble, but these people's soul is steeped in the Gospel, it's full of it and they are the ones who successfully reform the Church. Both in the Lutheran and Catholic Churches there are saints, men and women with a holy heart who follow the Gospel: they are the Church's reformers. (See lastampa.it/vatican-insider/en/2016/10/13/news/pope-those-who-defend-christ-but-turn-away-refugees-are-hypocrites-1.34786963; Emphasis mine). 

During the same talk, he gave his high estimation of the Catholic Faith:

The Pope picked up on a question put to him by a girl from Saxony-Anhalt, about the fact that 80% of locals do not belong to any Christian denomination: “Should I convince these friends - who are good and happy people - of my faith?” Francis said, repeating the question. “What should I tell them to convince them? Listen,” he said, “the last thing you should do is ‘tell’. You should live as a Christian who is chosen, forgiven and forging a path. It is not right to convince them of your faith, proselytism is the most powerful poison against the path of ecumenism...(Ibid; Emphasis mine).

What, then, should be the proper view on Martin Luther? Was he some misunderstood and brave reformer? The second part of this post will take a close-up look at the apostate priest.

The Martin Luther of History

(This section draws on several works, most notably, The Facts About Luther, by O'Hare; Luther's True Face, by Gleize, and Luther and Lutherdom, by Denifle, to which I give full attribution in the compilation of this section---Introibo). 

1. Was Luther a "Good Christian"?

The best judge of this question would be how he was viewed by many Protestant historians, with no love for the Catholic Church.

• One of these fearless writers was the Protestant Professor Seeberg of Berlin. He was no friend of the Catholic Church, but his deep study of the man and his movement forced him to say: “Luther strode through his century like a demon crushing under his feet what a thousand years had venerated.” The same author further remarks:“In him dwelt ‘The Superhuman’ or, in Nietzsche’s Philosophy, the ‘Uebermensch’ who dwells ‘beyond moral good and evil.’” 

• In November 1883 the English Protestant Bishop Bewick applied to Luther the epithets “foul-mouthed” and “scurrilous.” 

• In the December “Century” issued in 1900, Augustine Birrell, a distinguished English Protestant writer, declared that “Luther was not an ideal sponsor of a new religion; he was a master of billingsgate and the least saintly of men. At times, in reading Luther, one is drawn to say to him what Herrick so frankly says of himself: ‘Luther, thou art too coarse to love’

• Encouraged others to sin saying, "Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly... No sin will separate us from (Christ), even though we commit fornication and murder a thousand times a day." (Letter from Luther to Philip Melanchthon, August 1, 1521 A.D.)

• Wanted churches and convents destroyed 

• Promoted bloodshed 

• Permitted divorce and "remarriage"

• Broke his priestly vows to "marry" a nun, declaring the vows that both made to God non-binding by his own authority

2. Did Martin Luther Make the Bible Well-Known?

The story goes that Martin Luther "discovered" the "prohibited Book" (Bible) and read it, leading to his "conversion to authentic Christianity." This fable was first put into circulation by Mathesius, Luther’s pupil and a boarder in his house. Did Luther really "save the Bible" from the evil, "popish clerics" who allegedly hid it from the faithful? In a word: NO.

That Luther did not discover and was not the first to give the Bible to the people in the latter’s own language is easily proved.

• Fr. Lucian Johnston, in an able review of Grisar’s Work, says: Luther as well as every other man of education of his day was accustomed to the Scriptures from his youth. Like thousands of others in any other schools, he was a regularly appointed professor of Scripture. It was precisely this position as teacher of Scripture in his monastery that gave the outlet to his peculiar views. Had the Bible been as unknown as the popular biography supposes, Luther might not have developed as he did along Scriptural lines. Here again Luther’s memory played him tricks. He fell back for excuses upon- the supposed lack of Scriptures just as he did upon the presence of abuses, when, as a matter of fact, there is no evidence from his own earlier works to prove that these things exercised any material effect upon his early mental development.

• “Luther’s studies,” according to McGiffert, a non-Catholic writer, in his biography of the Reformer published in 1912, embraced the writings of the Church Fathers and particularly the Bible, to which he was becoming more and more attached. It was in his twentieth year, he tells us, that he first saw a complete copy of the Scriptures in the university library of Erfurt. He had hitherto supposed they embraced only the lessons read in the public services and was delighted to find much that was quite unfamiliar to him. His ignorance, it may be remarked, though not exceptional, was his own fault. The notion that Bible reading was frowned upon by the ecclesiastical authorities of the age is quite unfounded.  [The Scriptures] were read regularly in church and their study was no more prohibited to university students of that day than of this.

3. Luther Admits The "Reformation's" Failure

In Luther's own words:

• Unfortunately, it is our daily experience, that now under the Gospel [his] the people entertain greater and bitterer hatred and envy and are worse with their avarice and money-grabbing than before under the Papacy.

• The people feel they are free from the bonds and fetters of the Pope, but now they want to get rid also of the Gospel and of all the laws of God.

•  Everybody thinks that Christian liberty and licentiousness of the flesh are one and the same thing, as if now everybody was allowed to do what he wants.

• Townsfolk and peasants, men and women, children and servants, princes, magistrates and subjects, are all going to the devil.

• If we succeed in expelling one devil, he immediately is replaced by seven others who are much worse. We can then expect that after having driven away the monks, we shall see arise a race seven times worse than the former.

• Avarice, usury, debauchery, drunkenness, blasphemy, lying and cheating are far more prevalent now than they were under the Papacy. This state of morals brings general discredit on the Gospel and its preachers, as the people say, if this Gospel were true, the persons professing it would be more pious. 

True Reunion As Taught By A True Pope

Pope Pius XI issued the monumental encyclical Mortalium Animos, on true religious unity.

Para. #9: Everyone knows that John himself, the Apostle of love, who seems to reveal in his Gospel the secrets of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and who never ceased to impress on the memories of his followers the new commandment "Love one another," altogether forbade any intercourse with those who professed a mutilated and corrupt version of Christ's teaching: "If any man come to you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into the house nor say to him: God speed you." For which reason, since charity is based on a complete and sincere faith, the disciples of Christ must be united principally by the bond of one faith.

Para. #10: So, Venerable Brethren, it is clear why this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics: for the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it. 

Conclusion

Bergoglio is lying for Luther. He sanitizes his life and false doctrines. He decries proselytism and exalts false ecumenism. The opening words of Exurge Domine, the decree of Pope Leo X condemning the errors of Luther, applies equally to false pope Francis:

Arise, O Lord, and judge your own cause. Remember your reproaches to those who are filled with foolishness all through the day. Listen to our prayers, for foxes have arisen seeking to destroy the vineyard whose winepress you alone have trod.