To the contrary, five centuries ago Martin Luther warned that the Roman Church had been perverted by the Antichrist, the pope, through the practice of indulgences and works, which subverted the Gospel of justification by grace (Eph. 2:8-9; Mt 15:7-9).
In his Smalcald Articles (Part II, Art. XIII) Luther wrote: “We do not concede to the papists that they are the Church, for they are not. Nor shall we pay attention to what they command or forbid in the name of the Church, for thank God, a seven-year-old child knows what the Church is, namely, holy believers and lambs who hear the voice of their Shepherd. So children pray, ‘I believe in one holy Christian Church.’ Its holiness does not consist of surplices, tonsures, albs, or other ceremonies of theirs which they have invented beyond and above Holy Scripture, but it consists of the Word of God and true faith.”
Not a ‘Luther’ follower, but, have found the amount of time the Roman Church preaches against Luther to be a bit of a curiosity ... given that the devil got a temple dedicated to him right there at the Vatican... Strange at best...
There are ‘7’ churches described by John in Revelation ... kinda like a geographic circle .. on the globe .. only two were found without fault.