Continued
from previous post –
Support
for the excommunicated monk is so strong among German knights that
the young emperor, Charles
V, is prevailed
upon to hear his case at a diet held in 1521 in Worms. Luther is
given a safe conduct for his journey to and from the diet. He is no
doubt aware of the value of an imperial safe conduct to John Huss
a century earlier, Huss
was burnt at the stake in July 1415, and however, Luther accepts the
challenge.
The Legislative
assembly of Worms: 1521
Where
Huss
had slipped
into Constance in 1414 almost alone, Luther arrives at the
legislative
assembly
at Worms
supported by a large number of enthusiastic German knights.
Nevertheless, apparently the purpose of the confrontation, from the
emperor's point of view, is a demand that he should recant.
In
a lengthy speech, Luther explains that he will abjure any of his
views if they can be proved wrong by scripture or reason. Otherwise,
he must remain true to his conscience and to his understanding of
God's word. The presses soon reduce this to the pithy statement,
which has been remembered ever since Hier
stehe ich. Ich kann nicht anders.,
'Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise'. Germans were otherwise also
not very much in favor of Pope's office and this opportunity they
look to as one more chance to pull papal authority further down.
Luther's victory at the diet encourages more intellectuals to dare
for more changes in the existing form of Pope's authority. As a
result, Luther's stand leads, eventually, to the emergence of the
first sect to break away from the Roman Catholic Church and to
survive the opposition of the papacy - Lutheranism, finally
established by the Peace of Augsburg
in 1555. Since
it came out of protest by Luther to papal authority disregarding
concept of key to heaven it was called, 'Protestants'. This first
Protestant faith is soon followed by others, violently disagreeing
among themselves. Zwingli
goes further than Luther. The Anabaptists far
outstrip either. Meanwhile Henry
VIII
devises a new
English church for personal purposes. The
papacy, unable to stem the tide, calls the 'Council
of Trent'
and develops
the Catholic Reformation - Rome's own rigorously virtuous program of
reform.
In
the meanwhile, power struggle in Italy continued to the extent that
in year 1527, Rome was sacked by imperial troops wit total disregards
for Pope's authority as religious lord. We often observe that
European Kings seldom regarded Pope as a power unless proven and they
continued to push its power by using military might. They took Pope
as a political force more than as a spiritual force. The papacy,
responsible for the scheming alliances, which foster so much of the
conflict, appears to receive its just reaction in the sack
of Rome
in
1527. But it too emerges much strengthened a decade or two later.
Once the Catholic
Reformation
is
under way, Rome and Spain - allies in spiritual severity - are well
equipped to exercise strict control over the entire peninsula apart
from republican Venice. Throughout we see there is hardly any
spiritual activity involved in any of the programs of Pope, they were
full of political power struggles all over. Pope's kingdom was just
like any other king's kingdom. Nobles had no regard for any of the
Popes as Bishop of Catholic faith.
Continues in the
next post –
You may contact
me on my Email ID given below,
You are invited to
visit my other blogs
Ashok
Kothare, http://ashokkotharesblog.blogspot.com/
for
stories
I
reckon,
http://kotharesviews.blogspot.com/
for philosophy
You
may visit blog, Freedom of Expression,
Freedom
of Expression, http://kothare-thinks.blogspot.in/
Marathi
blog, http://kothare-marathi.blogspot.in/
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