Will Martin Luther be made a Catholic saint?

[wbanks]

An old priest once told me, while I was converting to Catholicism, that there was talk of nominating Martin Luther for sainthood in the Catholic Church. I mentioned this to my professor of early Western European history and her eyes lit up. Needless to say I am now on a mission to confirm or deny the story. Can you help?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

I know of no such talk, at least by the Church itself. It is theoretically possible that the Church could canonize Luther (i.e., acknowledge that he is in heaven); but the Church, to date, only does so with its own members. This is mainly because one of the purposes of canonization is to set forth for Catholics a model of Catholic Christian holiness. Given what Catholic and Protestant scholars know of Luther’s personal life, it is highly doubtful that Luther would be considered a candidate for sainthood.