ost
Holy Father:
No duty is more incumbent on a Catholic
sovereign than to preserve and increase the Christian faith and
religion and the proofs thereof, and to transmit them preserved
thus inviolate to posterity, by his example in preventing them
from being destroyed by any assailant of the Faith or in any
wise impaired.
So, when we learned that the pest of Martin
Luther's heresy had appeared in Germany and was raging
everywhere, without let or hindrance, to such an extent that
many, infected with its poison, were falling away, especially
those whose furious hatred rather than their zeal for Christian
Truth had prepared them to believe all its subtleties and lies;
we were so deeply grieved at this heinous crime of the German
nation (for whom we have no light regard), and for the sake of
the Holy Apostolic See, that we bent all our thoughts and
energies on uprooting in every possible way, this cockle, this
heresy from the Lord's flock.
When we perceived that this deadly venom had
advanced so far and had seized upon the weak and ill-disposed
minds of so many, that it could not easily be overcome by a
single effort, we deemed that nothing could be more efficient in
destroying the contagion than to declare these errors worthy of
condemnation, after they had been examined by a convocation of
learned and scholarly men from all parts of our realm.
This course of action we likewise recommended to
a number of others. In the first place, we earnestly entreated
His Imperial Majesty, through our fraternal love for him, and
all the electoral princes, to bethink them of their Christian
duty and their lofty station and to destroy this pernicious man,
together with his scandalous and heretical publications, after
his refusal to return to God.
But convinced that, in our ardour for the
welfare of Christendom, in our zeal for the Catholic Faith and
our devotion to the Apostolic See, we had not yet done enough,
we determined to show by our own writings our attitude towards
Luther and our opinion of his vile books; to manifest more
openly to all the world that we shall ever defend and uphold the
Holy Roman Church, not only by force of arms but by the
resources of our intelligence and our services as a Christian.
For this reason we have thought that this first
attempt of our modest ability and learning could not be more
worthily dedicated than to your Holiness, both as a token of our
filial reverence and an acknowledgment of your careful
solicitude for the weal of Christendom.
We feel assured that our first fruits will be
enhanced in value if it be approved by the wholesome judgment of
your Blessedness. May you live long and happily!
From our Royal Palace at Greenwich, the
twenty-first day of May, 1521.
Your Holiness' most devoted and humble son,
Henry, by the grace of God King of England and France, and Lord
of Ireland.
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