Pope John Paul II, in a gesture of reconciliation, told Danish Lutheran bishops that Rome's excommunication of the father of the Reformation 468 years ago expired when he died, and therefore should not hinder Catholic-Protestant dialogue.
"According to Roman Catholic doctrine, any excommunication expires with the person's death. It only applies during a person's lifetime," the pope said Tuesday, speaking in German, the native tongue of the 16th-century theologian."There is a need for a new evaluation of the questions raised by Luther and his teaching," the pontiff told a Danish ecumenical meeting in Roskilde, 30 miles west of Copenhagen. "Such a reevaluation has begun from the Catholic side."
Praising Luther for his profound faith, John Paul said some of Luther's teachings on reform and renewal have long been accepted by the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church condemned Luther's religious writings in 1520 and excommunicated him the following year. Luther, who had accused church leaders of being corrupt and straying from Bibical teachings, became the founder of the Protestant movement in Germany.
Wednesday, the pope was to celebrate Mass at St. Ansgar Church in central Copenhagen followed by a meeting with representatives of Denmark's Ecumenical Society. In the afternoon, he was to visit Jutland, 200 miles west of Copenhagen.
The pope travels to Sweden Thursday for the final leg of his five-nation Nordic tour.
The excommunication of Luther remains a point of contention between Catholics and Protestants to this day. Before the pope's speech, Copenhagen's Lutheran bishop, Ole Bertelsen, said in a speech that "the Catholic condemnation of evangelic doctrine has not been annulled."