Also, while I think we should defer to the Pope in simply commemorating (not celebrating) the Reformation this year and next by praying for unity and understanding, I don’t see or understand why Catholics have to conform themselves to what the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity declared on Luther and Lutherans in 1983 or in
this recent document. I don’t see where that commission, comprised of both Lutherans and Catholics, is analogous to the Holy See, but I am open to correction.
Dans0622 had a good point on an earlier thread:
“While there is obviously a “new” tenor to the way the Church interacts with non-Catholics, it seems to me that the use of words/phrases such as “proclaimed by the Holy See”, “judgment of Rome”, “conferral of those titles” overstates things. That 1983 document is not quite that authoritative.”
That 1983 document is
HERE. It simply says that “[Luther] is beginning to be honored in common as a witness to the gospel, a teacher in the faith and a herald of spiritual renewal.” I don’t see where the Pope (or the Holy See) was saying Luther was a witness to the Gospel. A few theologians are saying he is beginning to be honored as such. This appears to be an opinion given by at least a few of the 22 members who signed the 1983 document. I do not see where we as Catholics must believe with Catholic and divine faith that Luther is a “witness to the Gospel”. That is something that can be debated and discussed among Christians of good faith.
Just as much is said in the “Conflict to Communion” report I
linked previously, that Luther is a witness to the Gospel. And as I mentioned before, perhaps he is a witness, but in an imperfect way. St. John Fisher, the Martyrs of Gorkum, and many others have been, objectively according to the Church, much better witnesses to the Gospel than Martin Luther. Bishop Karlheinz Diez tells us in his forward to that same report that “We invite all Christians to study the report of our Commission both open-mindedly and critically, and to come with us along the way to a deeper communion of all Christians.”
I have done so open-mindedly by reading and agreeing with various parts of the commission, but as the good bishop said, I and others can be a bit critical of the commission’s report at certain points. Nothing wrong with that, such as how there isn’t any good exposition on idulgences in the document, and they keep being referred to as something that is no longer relevant, i.e. that “indulgences played an important role in the piety of the time.” (par. 41) The report fails to mention that indulgences
still play a big part in Catholic piety today, and are something important the faithful should embrace. I also am a bit critical of how Pope Leo X’s writings (particularly Exsurge Domine) are somewhat dismissed in paragraph 50. Those are just some examples of how I am a bit critical of this particular commission’s writings, but still defer to what recent Popes have been trying to do: bring attention to the sad divisions that are before us while praying that we may all be reconciled. The only pitfall in this is that certain theologians may concede too much, and that should be avoided.
So I don’t fear that Pope Francis will “Protestantize” the faith, as he mentions in his interview, but I do hope and pray that some Catholic theologians don’t go too far into turning their commemoration into something that might promote a strain of universalism and put the reformers in a not so accurate light. Again, we must all keep in mind Luther is a complicated and complex figure.
His words of blasphemy against the sacrifice of the Mass and sacrament of marriage seem to conveniently be forgotten.