Pope Leo X
The Bull 'Decet Romanum': the Condemnation and
Excommunication of Martin Luther, the Heretic, and his
Followers, January 1521.
The Bull "Decet Romanum"
Preamble
Through the power given him from God, the Roman Pontiff
has been appointed to administer spiritual and temporal
punishments as each case severally deserves. The purpose
of this is the repression of the wicked designs of
misguided men, who have been so captivated by the debased
impulse of their evil purposes as to forget the fear of
the Lord, to set aside with contempt canonical decrees
and apostolic commandments, and to dare to formulate new
and false dogmas and to introduce the evil of schism into
the Church of God—or to support, help and adhere to such
schismatics, who make it their business to cleave asunder
the seamless robe of our Redeemer and the unity of the
orthodox faith. Hence it befits the Pontiff, lest the
vessel of Peter appear to sail without pilot or oarsman,
to take severe measures against such men and their
followers, and by multiplying punitive measures and by
other suitable remedies to see to it that these same
overbearing men, devoted as they are to purposes of evil,
along with their adherents, should not deceive the
multitude of the simple by their lies and their deceitful
devices, nor drag them along to share their own error and
ruination, contaminating them with what amounts to a
contagious disease. It also befits the Pontiff, having
condemned the schismatics, to ensure their still greater
confounding by publicly showing and openly declaring to
all faithful Christians how formidable are the censures
and punishments to which such guilt can lead; to the end
that by such public declaration they themselves may
return, in confusion and remorse, to their true selves,
making an unqualified withdrawal from the prohibited
conversation, fellowship and (above all) obedience to
such accursed excommunicates; by this means they may
escape divine vengeance and any degree of participation
in their damnation.
I [Here the Pope recounts his previous Bull Exsurge
Domine and continues]
II We have been informed that after this previous missive
had been exhibited in public and the interval or
intervals it prescribed had elapsed [60 days]—and we
hereby give solemn notice to all faithful Christians that
these intervals have and are elapsed—many of those who
had followed the errors of Martin took cognisance of our
missive and its warnings and injunctions; the spirit of a
saner counsel brought them back to themselves, they
confessed their errors and abjured the heresy at our
instance, and by returning to the true Catholic faith
obtained the blessing of absolution with which the
self-same messengers had been empowered; and in several
states and localities of the said Germany the books and
writings of the said Martin were publicly burned, as we
had enjoined.
Nevertheless Martin himself—and it gives us grievous
sorrow and perplexity to say this—the slave of a depraved
mind, has scorned to revoke his errors within the
prescribed interval and to send us word of such
revocation, or to come to us himself; nay, like a stone
of stumbling, he has feared not to write and preach worse
things than before against us and this Holy See and the
Catholic faith, and to lead others on to do the same.
He has now been declared a heretic; and so also others,
whatever their authority and rank, who have cared nought
of their own salvation but publicly and in all men's eyes
become followers of Martin's pernicious and heretical
sect, and given him openly and publicly their help,
counsel and favour, encouraging him in their midst in his
disobedience and obstinacy, or hindering the publication
of our said missive: such men have incurred the
punishments set out in that missive, and are to be
treated rightfully as heretics and avoided by all
faithful Christians, as the Apostle says (Titus iii.
10-11).
III. Our purpose is that such men should rightfully be
ranked with Martin and other accursed heretics and
excommunicates, and that even as they have ranged
themselves with the obstinacy in sinning of the said
Martin, they shall likewise share his punishments and his
name, by bearing with them everywhere the title
"Lutheran" and the punishments it incurs.
Our previous instructions were so clear and so
effectively publicised and we shall adhere so strictly to
our present decrees and declarations, that they will lack
no proof, warning or citation.
Our decrees which follow are passed against Martin and
others who follow him in the obstinacy of his depraved
and damnable purpose, as also against those who defend
and protect him with a military bodyguard, and do not
fear to support him with their own resources or in any
other way, and have and do presume to offer and afford
help, counsel and favour toward him. All their names,
surnames and rank—however lofty and dazzling their
dignity may be—we wish to be taken as included in these
decrees with the same effect as if they were individually
listed and could be so listed in their publication, which
must be furthered with an energy to match their contents.
On all these we decree the sentences of excommunication,
of anathema, of our perpetual condemnation and interdict;
of privation of dignities, honours and property on them
and their descendants, and of declared unfitness for such
possessions; of the confiscation of their goods and of
the crime of treason; and these and the other sentences,
censures and punishments which are inflicted by canon law
on heretics and are set out in our aforesaid missive, we
decree to have fallen on all these men to their
damnation.
IV We add to our present declaration, by our Apostolic
authority, that states, territories, camps, towns and
places in which these men have temporarily lived or
chanced to visit, along with their possessions—cities
which house cathedrals and metropolitans, monasteries and
other religious and sacred places, privileged or
unprivileged—one and all are placed under our
ecclesiastical interdict, while this interdict lasts, no
pretext of Apostolic Indulgence (except in cases the law
allows, and even there, as it were, with the doors shut
and those under excommunication and interdict excluded)
shall avail to allow the celebration of mass and the
other divine offices. We prescribe and enjoin that the
men in question are everywhere to be denounced publicly
as excommunicated, accursed, condemned, interdicted,
deprived of possessions and incapable of owning them.
They are to be strictly shunned by all faithful
Christians.
V We would make known to all the small store that Martin,
his followers and the other rebels have set on God and
his Church by their obstinate and shameless temerity. We
would protect the herd from one infectious animal, lest
its infection spread to the healthy ones. Hence we lay
the following injunction on each and every patriarch,
archbishop, bishop, on the prelates of patriarchal,
metropolitan, cathedral and collegiate churches, and on
the religious of every Order—even the
mendicants—privileged or unprivileged, wherever they may
be stationed: that in the strength of their vow of
obedience and on pain of the sentence of excommunication,
they shall, if so required in the execution of these
presents, publicly announce and cause to be announced by
others in their churches, that this same Martin and the
rest are excommunicate, accursed, condemned, heretics,
hardened, interdicted, deprived of possessions and
incapable of owning them, and so listed in the
enforcement of these presents. Three days will be given:
we pronounce canonical warning and allow one day's notice
on the first, another on the second, but on the third
peremptory and final execution of our order. This shall
take place on a Sunday or some other festival, when a
large congregation assembles for worship. The banner of
the cross shall be raised, the bells rung, the candles
lit and after a time extinguished, cast on the ground and
trampled under foot, and the stones shall be cast forth
three times, and the other ceremonies observed which are
usual in such cases. The faithful Christians, one and
all, shall be enjoined strictly to shun these men.
We would occasion still greater confounding on the said
Martin and the other heretics we have mentioned, and on
their adherents, followers and partisans: hence, on the
strength of their vow of obedience we enjoin each and
every patriarch, archbishop and all other prelates, that
even as they were appointed on the authority of Jerome to
allay schisms, so now in the present crisis, as their
office obliges them, they shall make themselves a wall of
defence for their Christian people. They shall not keep
silence like dumb dogs that cannot bark, but incessantly
cry and lift up their voice, preaching and causing to be
preached the word of God and the truth of the Catholic
faith against the damnable articles and heretics
aforesaid.
VI To each and every rector of the parish churches, to
the rectors of all the Orders, even the mendicants,
privileged or unprivileged, we enjoin in the same terms,
on the strength of their vow of obedience, that appointed
by the Lord as they are to be like clouds, they shall
sprinkle spiritual showers on the people of God, and have
no fear in giving the widest publicity to the
condemnation of the aforesaid articles, as their office
obliges them. It is written that perfect love casteth out
fear. Let each and every one of you take up the burden of
such a meritorious duty with complete devotion; show
yourselves so punctilious in its execution, so zealous
and eager in word and deed, that from your labours, by
the favour of divine grace, the hoped-for harvest will
come in, and that through your devotion you will not only
earn that crown of glory which is the due recompense of
all who promote religious causes, but also attain from us
and the said Holy See the unbounded commendation that
your proved diligence will deserve.
VII However, since it would be difficult to deliver the
present missive, with its declarations and announcements,
to Martin and the other declared excommunicates in
person, because of the strength of their faction, our
wish is that the public nailing of this missive on the
doors of two cathedrals—either both metropolitan, or one
cathedral and one metropolitan of the churches in the
said Germany—by a messenger of ours in those places,
shall have such binding force that Martin and the others
we have declared shall be shown to be condemned at every
point as decisively as if the missive had been personally
made known and presented to them.
VIII It would also be difficult to transmit this missive
to every single place where its publication might be
necessary. Hence our wish and authoritative decree is
that copies of it, sealed by some ecclesiastical prelate
or by one of our aforesaid messengers, and countersigned
by the hand of some public notary, should everywhere bear
the same authority as the production and exhibition of
the original itself.
IX No obstacle is afforded to our wishes by the Apostolic
constitutions and orders, or by anything in our aforesaid
earlier missive which we do not wish to stand in the way,
or by any other pronouncements to the contrary.
X No one whatsoever may infringe this our written
decision, declaration, precept, injunction, assignation,
will, decree; or rashly contravene it. Should anyone dare
to attempt such a thing, let him know that he will incur
the wrath of Almighty God and of the blessed Apostles
Peter and Paul.
Written at St. Peter's, Rome, on the 3rd January 1521,
during the eighth year of our pontificate.