Martin Luther remains excommunicated

As noted on this morning's Wikipedia home page, January 3 is the 488th anniversary of the excommunication of Martin Luther by Pope Leo X.

Luther had offended the papacy by insisting that the Bible (not the priests themselves) were the sources of truth, and he had (shudder!) translated the Bible into the vernacular so that people could read it. He taught salvation through faith rather than through deeds or gifts, and therefore denied the validity of buying indulgences from priests as an expiation for sins. He criticized the Pope for using the money of the poor rather than his own uncountable wealth to build St. Peter's basilica. And he got married (to a nun) and began vigorously begetting children [one of his descendants was Paul von Hindenburg, who became President of Germany in the 1920s].

Twentieth-century Lutherans have requested that the Roman Catholic Church lift the excommunication; they have adamantly refused.