INTERVIEWING MARTIN LUTHER

I: Good morning Luther! Thanks for coming.


M:Hello, thanks.


I: First of all, how would you discribe yourself in that times?


M; Umm.. A nonconformist who was seeing injustices and wanted to be heard.


I: And that´s why you wrote the theses?

M: Yes, I was dissatisfied with several practices of the Roman Catholic Church, including the sale of indulgences, the abuse of priestly power and the power of the Pope. I also argued that faith, not deeds, is the path to salvation.

I: And what happened when you made this arguments public?

M: I sparked a religious revolution that came to be known as the Protestant Reformation. 

I: What was the thing that make you start writting them?

M: Even as a student, I began to have some trouble with the Roman Catholic Church's teachings that one could reach salvation by performing certain acts. However, it was not until the Church began selling indulgences that i decided to wrote the Theses.

I: Can you explain us what were the indulgences?


M: Basicaly, indulgences allowed a person who gave money to the Church to avoid some of the temporal punishment associated with his or her sins. One could also buy indulgences to limit the temporal punishment of someone else, whether they were alive or in purgatory.

I: So, you wrote "The Ninety-Five These," arguing that a person did not have to pay for remission of his or her sins because such forgiveness is offered by Christ freely to every person who repents?


M: Exactly, and i started a discussion about the power of the Catholic Church that led to a huge number of new Protestant denominations.


I: Rome condemned you as a heretic, removed you from the priesthood and banned your writings. What was your response?


M:In response, I publicly burned the papal bull, or edict. The sale of indulgences plummeted and my ideas started to take hold.


I: How are the Lutherans?


M: The Lutherans have no such compunction. The Church of Sweden has had women pastors for more than half a century, the Danes for almost 70 years. And the gulf between the two churches on this issue were underscored when Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic church, came face to face with the head of the Church of Sweden, Archbishop Antje Jackelén, a woman.


I: Do you know that the actual Pope wants to unify the two churches again?


M: I read an article about that the other day.


i: And what do you think about it?


M: I think it is a great idea, this Pope has lots of hope and wants to remake Catholithism and make it in a good and respectfull way, so i think it´s going to be difficult but if the two of the Churches get together and decided to work side to side it can make a great difference between all the believers and get strengh thanks to the union.


I: Thank you so muck Marthin, i wish you the best.


M: It´s been a pleasure.