[Alex Murphy]

Shortly before his death in 1546, Martin Luther delivered himself of an impious diatribe against the sanctity of the Blessed Virgin, loudly protesting that she was no more holy than any other son or daughter of Adam, no more holy than Luther himself. On this basis, Mary’s intercession through her merits was a pure fiction, excogitated by Scholastic theologians. For once, Bellarmine seems to have lost his temper. Preaching in the Cathedral of Louvain, on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he calls out to his audience: “If I only had the burning eloquence and deadly satire that this dastardly charge deserves! Do you, Martin Luther, dare to compare yourself to the Virgin Mother of God; you who once vowed perpetual chastity and then ran off to pollute yourself with a sacrilegious marriage; you who vowed voluntary poverty and then proceeded to despoil the very temples and altars of the Most High; you who pledged yourself to a life of humility under the yoke of obedience and then broke these solemn vows by flouting your proud disobedience in the face of all the Saints of antiquity, the Vicars of Christ and God Himself in His Holy Catholic Church!” [19]

Not satisfied with crushing Luther’s brazen denial of Mary’s sanctity and corresponding merit in the sight of God, Bellarmine points out that it is precisely in virtue of her “ineffable merits that the Blessed Virgin stands as intermediary between Christ and His Mystical Body. The Head of the Catholic Church,” he keeps repeating, “is Christ, and Mary is the neck which joins the Head to its Body.” Having merited so well of God by her transcendent holiness, “God has decreed that all the gifts, all the graces, and all the heavenly blessings which proceed from Christ as the Head, should pass though Mary to the Body of the Church. Even the physical body has several members in its other parts—hands, arms, shoulders and feet—but only one head and one neck. So also the Church has many Apostles, martyrs, confessors and virgins, but only one Head, the Son of God, and one bond between the Head and members, the Mother of God.” [20]

This is not appropriate Caucus material.

[tiki]

I disagree, this is a historical exchange, not opinion.

[kittymyrib]

Remind me again of why non-Catholics on this site should not have their own caucus when this propaganda is posted for Catholics. To equate anyone with Jesus Christ, the world’s only Redeemer, is deeply offensive to Christians.

[Religion Moderator]

The article does not qualify for a caucus. When a thread describes or judges the beliefs of another confession, that confession has an interest in speaking in its on behalf.

The caucus designation has been removed.

[Mad Dawg]

This is not appropriate Caucus material.

Why not? It's not about Lutherans. It's about Luther. Luther is not a confession.