What the founder of Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide said of the Catholic church

Martin Luther, the father of the Reformation was himself a Catholic celibate priest ordained to the priesthood in 1507, administering the Catholic sacraments and acknowledging Mary as the 'Mother of God'. With the posting of his '95 theses' in 1517 (after 10 years of practicing Catholic priesthood) he had in fact wanted only to Reform or clean the Catholic church from its corrupt practices, as his 95 Theses shows. The clauses from his 95 theses clearly show that he acknowledged the Catholic church as being the true church, the dignity of the Chair of Peter, the place of the Pope as Peter’s successor and the Pope as being guided by the Holy Spirit. He also acknowledged the Catholic church’s claim of being the true church. Excerpts from the 95 Theses he posted at the Castle church door;

5.         The pope has neither the will nor the power to remit any penalties

            beyond those imposed either at his own discretion or by canon law.  

6.         The pope himself cannot remit guilt, but only declare and confirm

            that it has been remitted by God; or, at most, he can remit it in cases

            reserved to his discretion. Except for these cases, the guilt remains

            untouched.  

9.         Accordingly, the Holy Spirit, acting in the person of the pope,

            manifests grace to us, by the fact that the papal regulations always

            cease to apply at death, or in any hard case.

20.       Therefore the pope, in speaking of the plenary Remission of all

            penalties, does not mean "all" in the strict sense, but only those

            imposed by himself.

26.      The pope does excellently when he grants remission to the souls in purgatory on account of intercessions made on their behalf, and not by the power of the keys (which he cannot exercise for them).

38.      Yet the pope's remission and dispensation are in no way

        to be despised, for, as already said, they proclaim the

        divine remission.  

41.      Papal indulgences should only be preached with caution, lest people

           gain a wrong understanding, and think that they are preferable to other

           good works: those of love.  

50.      Christians should be taught that, if the pope knew the exactions of the 

          indulgence-preachers, he would rather the church of St. Peter

          were reduced to ashes than be built with the skin, flesh, and bones of

           the sheep.    

51.     Christians should be taught that the pope would be willing, as he ought if necessity should arise, to sell the church of St. Peter, and give, too, his own money to many of those from whom the pardon-merchants  conjure money. 

53.      Those are enemies of Christ and the pope who forbid the word of God to be  preached at all in some churches, in order that indulgences may be preached in others. 

 61.     For it is clear that the power of the pope suffices, by itself, for the remission of penalties and reserved cases.  

69.     Bishops and curates, in duty bound, must receive the commissaries of the papal indulgences with all reverence. 

70.    But they are under a much greater obligation to watch closely and attend carefully lest these men preach their own fancies instead of what the pope commissioned.

73.    In the same way, the pope rightly excommunicates those who make any plans to the detriment of the trade in indulgences.  

74.    It is much more in keeping with his views to excommunicate those who use the pretext of indulgences to plot anything to the detriment of holy love and truth.  

75.    It is foolish to think that papal indulgences have so much power that they can absolve a man even if he has done the impossible and violated the mother of God.  

76.    We assert the contrary, and say that the pope's pardonsare not able

         to remove the least venial of sins as far as their guilt is concerned.

77.     When it is said that not even St. Peter, if he were now pope, could grant a greater grace, it is blasphemy against St. Peter and the pope.

81.     This unbridled preaching of indulgences makes it   difficult for

          learned men to guard the respect due to the pope against false

          accusations, or at least from the keen criticisms of the laity.  

88.     Again: Surely a greater good could be done to the   church if the pope

          were to bestow these remissionsand dispensations, not once, as now,

          but a hundred times a day, for the benefit of any believer whatever.  

90.     These questions are serious matters of conscience to the laity.

          To suppress them by force alone, and not to refute them by giving

          reasons, is to expose the church and the pope to the ridicule of their

          enemies, and to make Christian people unhappy.

While maintaining his new (and heretical) views on Indulgences and Penance, Luther  claims “that the Roman Church has always maintained the true faith, and that it is  necessary for all Christians to be in unity of faith with her.” (Dr. Ludwig Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 7, p. 366.) That means that, even after having been summoned  to Rome to answer for his new ideas, Luther professes that the Roman Church (the Roman Catholic Church) has the true faith.

Despite his commitment to his new ideas, Luther declared the following at one of these interviews: “The notary read out a declaration on behalf of Luther, that as far as he could remember he [Luther] had never taught anything against Holy Scripture, the doctrines of the Church, the Papal decretals [decrees of the popes], or sound reason. But as he was a man subject to error, he submitted himself to the decisions of the Holy Church and to all who knew better than he did.” (Dr. Ludwig Pastor, History of the Popes, Vol. 7, p. 373.)

Once again, we see that Luther claims fidelity to papal teaching and to all of Catholic doctrine. He also appeals specifically to the pope, and expresses his willingness to retract if the pope decided against him (Ibid., pp. 375, 377).

Not long after his meetings with the Pope’s legate, in November of 1518, Luther’s views underwent another significant development. He came to the conclusion that the pope, to whose decrees he had just claimed submission, is the antichrist. He writes: “I send you my trifling work that you may see whether I am not right in supposing that, according to Paul, the real Antichrist holds sway over the Roman court.” (De Wette, I., 192; Enders I., 317; Pastor, Vol. 7, pp. 378-379.) Numerous utterances from this time show that Luther had “fully formulated his proposition that the pope was antichrist.”

Yet, at this very time that he was calling the pope “the Antichrist,” Luther appealed to a general council from the pope (Luther’s works, Weimar ed., II., 36 seq.). In other words, Luther considered the decisions of general councils to be definitive and authoritative. and even when he first called the pope the Antichrist and was appealing to a general council.

Luther’s other references to the Pope as the antichrist;

"Heretics are not to be disputed with, but to be condemned unheard, and whilst they perish by fire, the faithful ought to pursue the evil to its source, and bathe their heads in the blood of the Catholic bishops, and of the Pope, who is the devil in disguise." [Martin Luther, Riffel, Kirchengeschichte]

"Jews and papists are ungodly wretches; they are two stockings made of one piece of cloth." [Martin Luther, Table Talk]

"Antichrist is the pope and the Turk [Muslim]together. A beast full of life must have a body and soul. The spirit or soul of  Antichrist is the pope, his flesh or body the Turk." [Martin Luther, Table Talk]

                   Next >> Did Luther or any other have the

                             authority from the Lord or His Church