Pope Francis, Martin Luther and the Quest for Christian Unity

Oct. 31, 2024, will mark the 507-year anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the Wittenberg church door, thus igniting the Protestant Reformation. It also presents yet another opportunity for Pope Francis to demonstrate whether he is serious about unity. 

Pope Francis has made Christian unity a major theme of his administration. He has reached out to leaders of the Eastern Orthodox churches and to Protestant leaders, including those from the Pentecostal-charismatic movement. A July 10, 2014, article in Charisma News carried the story of the pope’s cordial meeting with Kenneth Copeland and James Robison, which included prayer and high fives.

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I commend the pope for his efforts, but if he is truly serious about Christian unity, he can highlight it with a clear and unequivocal statement on this 507-year Reformation anniversary. He can do this by lifting Luther’s excommunication and removing his label as a heretic. 

Luther, after all, was a devout Roman Catholic priest who never wanted to leave the Catholic Church. He wanted to see it reformed according to Scripture but, for his efforts, was excommunicated and labeled a heretic.

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As a professor of Bible and theology at the University of Wittenberg, Luther began to see how far the medieval Catholic Church had moved away from the truth of the gospel. He began to boldly teach that Scripture, not the pope, is our final authority. He also taught that we are saved through faith in Christ alone apart from church-appointed works and sacraments.

When the church ordered him to stop teaching these doctrines, he refused, now convinced that he was on the side of Scripture. He was brought before a religious court—the Diet of Worms—where he faced the highest dignitaries in the church and the emperor himself. He was ordered to recant his teachings, but refused, saying,

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