Of all the crimes against the Faith that have been perpetrated in the name of the Roman Catholic Church, perhaps the most deplorable has been the Vatican’s recognition of Martin Luther as a “witness to the Gospel.”
To recap, in October 2016, Catholics throughout the world were shocked to learn that Pope Francis had traveled to Lund, Sweden to join in the launch of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, which officially began on October 31, 1517. The Lutheran Church of Sweden to which the pope went for the festivity accepts contraception, abortion, homosexuality, and female clergy, all of which are strictly forbidden by the Catholic Church.
As a follow-up to the October launch, a document co-authored by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Christian Unity announced a ‘Week of Prayer for Christian Unity’ to take place January 18-25, 2017, with the theme ‘Reconciliation: The love of Christ compels us.’ The document encouraged commemorations in all dioceses of the world, and said, “Lutheran and Catholic Christians will for the first time commemorate together the beginning of the Reformation.”
The document also said that “Catholics are now able to hear Luther’s challenge for the Church of today, recognizing him as a ‘witness to the gospel.’” The Vatican minced no words about its wholehearted commitment to pay tribute to Martin Luther, who spearheaded what has been called history’s most devastating revolt against the Faith.
Moreover, on October 13, 2016—the 99th Anniversary of Our Lady’s last apparition at Fatima—the Pope received a group of 1000 Lutherans and Catholics at the Vatican’s Paul VI hall and addressed them from the stage where a statue of Luther was erected. During the meeting he wore two scarves on his neck: one yellow, symbolizing the Papacy, and one light blue, representing Lutheranism. The two were tied together to signify the so-called union between Catholicism and Protestantism. Not a word was mentioned in honor of Our Lady of Fatima.
Evidence of Rome’s connivance with the Reformation would continue to surface in the press. For instance, on October 31, 2017, the Vatican announced it would be issuing a special postage stamp depicting Luther at the foot of the Cross to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Many saw this as a slap in the face to the Blessed Virgin, since the stamp depicted not Our Lady, but a notorious heretic kneeling at the foot of the Cross, this being in the 100th Centennial Anniversary of Her apparitions at Fatima.
Spawned by Vatican II
The 500th anniversary celebration of the Reformation is indeed historic, since it marks the first time ever that Lutherans and Catholics have commemorated together the start of the Reformation, but Vatican II is what spawned this connivance with Protestantism. The 1980 Joint Catholic-Lutheran Commission which grew out of Vatican II states:
“Among the ideas of the Second Vatican Council, we can see gathered together much of what Luther asked for, such as the following: description of the Church as ‘The People of God’ (a democratic and non-hierarchical idea); accent on the priesthood of all baptized; the right of the individual to freedom of religion.”
This would pave the way for the Vatican’s 1999 Joint-Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification (posted on the Vatican website), which also states the following in support of Luther:
“For the Lutheran tradition, the doctrine of justification has retained its special status. Consequently, it has also from the beginning occupied an important place in the official Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue.”
That Vatican II colluded with advocates of the Reformation is evidenced by the words of Fr. Edward Schillebeeckx, a prominent figure of the Council, when he remarked: “One is astonished to find oneself more in sympathy with the thinking of Christian, non-Catholic ‘observers’ than with the views of one’s own brethren on the other side of the dividing line. The accusation of connivance with the Reformation is therefore not without foundation.”
Professor George Lindbeck, of the Yale Divinity School, and Lutheran observer at Vatican II, noted that: “The Council marked the end of the Counter-Reformation.” (The Tablet, Feb. 16, 1963)
And of course, it is no secret that six Protestant delegates actively assisted in the drafting of the Vatican II documents and contributed to heretical declarations such as the following:
“Separated Churches and communities… have been by no means deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation.” (Unitatis Redintegratio 3)
What we have seen since the Council is an ongoing apology to the Protestants, in keeping with Bella Dodd’s strategy that we label “the Church of the past as being oppressive, authoritarian, full of prejudices, arrogant in claiming to be the sole possessor of truth, and responsible for the divisions of religious bodies throughout the centuries.”