Martin Luther: The Abuse Of Power

Martin Luther’s open battle with the indulgences of the Catholic Church shed light on the abuse of power within the papacy. The Ninety-Five Theses were posted on churches to be read, and later printed, then given to the Pope (Dutton, 392). The Pope later declared Luther as an outlaw to the Catholic Church in the Edict of Worms (Dutton, 395), tarnishing Luther’s reputation. The papacy’s power and how it was being used to further boost themselves shows the corruption that Martin Luther was trying to expose and/or fix.
A lot of Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses was based around indulgences that the papacy uses to gain wealth. Luther believes that the Pope is being selfish with his money by not donating to those in need or to St. Peter (Dutton, 419). The response made by the church was the Council of Trent, which was made to “address” the indulgences and issues of the papacy, (Dutton, …show more content…
Luther also addressed this in the Ninety-Five Theses, claiming that the Pope has no power over Purgatory (Dutton 407; Luther 26), and if he did have the power, it should be used to set free the tormented souls that he put there in the first place (Dutton 408; Luther 82). He also points out the indulgences done from “saving” souls from Purgatory for money for St. Peter’s Minster (Dutton 408; Luther 82). These indulgences were done with the fake intent of building St. Peter’s Basilica, when the Pope could have built the building (Dutton 408; Luther 86) without any exploitation of Christians’ fears. With the supposed power to grant freedom of Purgatory or eternal suffering, the people gave money to the Pope and papacy for pardons of being sent to Purgatory in the afterlife (Dutton 408; Luther 84). The Pope used the fear and belief of his own people and followers to show his power and be given offerings, then used the name of St. Peter as a cover to maintain the money he already had, and possibly gain more to build a