New Pope...same Old concerns

The Roman Catholic Church has a new pope. His name is Robert Francis Prevost. He is from Chicago though he spent many years of his ministry doing missionary work in Peru and he attended St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome to get his doctorate in canon law. He is the first American pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.

One question we should be asking is “What should we think about the new pope as Lutheran Christians?” I want to first just give a few thoughts about his first sermon and then we will talk about the position of the Pope (the papacy) in general.

As I listened to the new Pope’s first sermon there where many things I found very positive and refreshing about his message.

Pope Leo XIV spoke about the mission of the church being to announce the good news of the gospel.
“I know I can rely on each and every one of you to walk with me as we continue as a church, as a community of friends of Jesus, as believers to announce the good news, to announce the gospel…”
Pope Leo XIV focused on the incarnation of God through His son Jesus Christ.

“Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. He is the one Savior who alone reveals the face of the Father. In him, God in order to make himself close and accessible to men and women revealed himself to us in the trusting eyes of a child, in the lively mind of a young person and in the mature features of a man…. finally appearing to His disciples after the resurrection with His glorious body. “

Pope Leo XIV also spoke about the challenge of sharing the true Jesus Christ to people today.

“Even today, there are not lacking settings in which Jesus, although appreciated as a man, is reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or a superman. This is true not only among non-believers but also among many baptized Christians who thus end up living at this level in a state of practical atheism. Therefore, it's essential that we too repeat with Peter, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.”

There were a few problems with Pope Leo XIV’s message but one specific one I will mention is how closed the sermon.

“May God grant me this grace today and always through the most tender intercession of Mary, mother of the church.”

Roman Catholic’s continue to ask Mary to pray for them and continue to believe that Mary was sinless even though there is no evidence of either in scripture. We do not ask dead people to pray for us because they can’t hear us. Why would Mary be able to hear anything from people on earth? There is no evidence of that in scripture. There is also no text in scripture that speaks at all of Mary being sinless.

Let’s turn now to what Martin Luther said about the position of the Pope (the papacy).

Martin Luther's primary problem with the papacy centered on its abuse of authority and its role in the sale of indulgences1. He saw the pope's claim to be Christ's representative on Earth as a way of usurping God's power and a tool for personal gain. Martin Luther also was opposed to the papacy's claims to control purgatory and its influence on salvation.

Luther argued that the pope's power was "false, mischievous, blasphemous, and arrogant" and primarily focused on "diabolic affairs".

Let’s dive in with a little more detail to Martin Luther’s objections to the papacy.

1. Indulgences: Luther vehemently opposed the practice of selling indulgences, which were papal pardons for sins, often used to raise funds for the Church. He believed that salvation came through faith alone and that indulgences were a corruption of the Church's teachings. Sadly, even today some people in the Catholic church pay to have masses said for their dead relatives which is a form of indulgences to get those loved ones out of purgatory faster.

2. Papal Authority: Luther questioned the Pope's authority to forgive sins, grant indulgences, or dictate the interpretation of the Bible. He believed that all Christians were equal before God and that the Bible was the ultimate source of authority, not the pope. Even today the Pope is considered infallible (incapable of making mistakes or being wrong) in matters of faith and morals when speaking ex cathedra2. This is very unfortunate because the Pope is human and there is no human that can always speak without error.

3. Worldliness and Corruption: Luther was deeply concerned about the wealth, power, and perceived corruption of the papacy and the Church hierarchy. He saw the papacy as a power structure that had become detached from the true mission of the Church. Even today there are many who are critical of the wealth and power the papacy still has.

4. Sola Scriptura: Luther emphasized the principle of "sola scriptura" (Scripture alone), arguing that the Bible was the sole source of divine revelation and that the Church's traditions and interpretations were not necessary. The Catholic church often holds traditions of their church as authoritative as well as scripture.

5. Purgatory: Luther questioned the existence of purgatory and the papacy's control over it, arguing that salvation was a gift of God through faith and not something that could be earned or purchased. The Roman Catholic church invented purgatory and therefore many Catholic people still today are not sure of their salvation when they die, they wonder how long they will spend in purgatory in order to pay off all their sins.

6. Antichrist: In his later writings, Luther even identified the Pope as the Antichrist, believing that the papacy was a force of evil that opposed Christ and the Gospel. If the Pope is not constantly pointing to Jesus Christ as the true source of hope and salvation but rather the church then he is acting in the position of the antichrist.

Luther's criticisms of the papacy ultimately led to his breaking with the Catholic Church and the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

Today we can pray for the new pope we know that it is Jesus Christ alone who is the leader of the church on earth


Footnotes:

1. Indulgences were a remission of the temporal punishment due to sin, granted by the Church, typically in exchange for money. They were often associated with a reduction in time spent in purgatory after death, and were sometimes sold or granted for monetary donations.

2. Ex cathedra is a Latin phrase which means “from the chair.” It refers to binding and infallible papal teachings which are promulgated by the pope when he officially teaches in his capacity of the universal shepherd of the Church a doctrine on a matter of faith or morals and addresses it to the entire world.