Decet Romanum Pontificem
Pope Leo X3 January 1521
The bull that declared Luther a heretic and excommunicated him and his supporters after the sixty days allowed by Exsurge Domine had run out.
The bull follows from Exsurge Domine. It reports that many of Martin Luther’s followers had recanted and that his books had been burned in parts of Germany, but that Luther himself had not withdrawn his errors within the time set and had written and preached worse things. It declares him a heretic, extends the same sentence to those who follow or protect him, whatever their rank, and orders the clergy to publish the excommunication.
It is dated at St Peter’s on 3 January 1521. It is the church’s formal sentence and gives no new account of Luther’s teaching.
Cited in
- 1520 to 1521, firm date