Anniversaries

I'm sure it hasn't escaped your notice that today is the 490th anniversary of the promulgation of the Papal Bull, Decet Romanum Pontificem.

This is no mere papal trivia, of course, this being the bull which excommunicated Fr Martin Luther, a full 3 years after the Augustinian friar had launched his attack on the Church. Pope Leo X, being of sound judgement and filled with pastoral sensitivity, did not react immediately, but was forced to confirm the excommunication, after Luther had failed to respond adequately to the Vatican's investigations, and, indeed, had deepened his hostility to that which he formerly loved so dearly.

There is nothing new under the sun, of course, and Luther was likely the unfortunate victim of that which had gone before him, enticed by a combination of rickety heresies and dodgy ecclesiastical manhandling.

Where Luther went wrong, of course, was by not having a firm philosophical foundation during his education...