Rome’s response to Martin Luther escalated when Sylvester Prierias reframed the indulgence controversy as a challenge to papal authority. Rather than addressing whether indulgences had been abused, Prierias argued that Luther had absolutely no right to question a practice approved by the pope. This forced the controversy toward a more fundamental issue. Who possessed final authority – the pope or the Bible?

At Augsburg in 1518, Cardinal Thomas Cajetan demanded that Luther recant his teachings concerning indulgences, papal authority, and the treasury of merits. Luther refused unless Cajetan could prove him wrong from Scripture. Cajetan demanded submission before discussion, while Luther insisted that even the pope was not above the Bible. Fearing arrest, Luther secretly left Augsburg and returned to Wittenberg.

Karl von Miltitz later attempted a more diplomatic approach. At Altenburg in January 1519, he negotiated a temporary truce in which Luther and his opponents were supposed to remain silent. Luther also agreed to write respectfully to Pope Leo X and submit the dispute to an agreed arbitrator. The truce quickly collapsed because Luther’s opponents continued attacking him and the controversy expanded beyond indulgences.

The Leipzig Debate of 1519 became a decisive turning point. Johann Maier von Eck drew Luther into a public dispute over papal supremacy, church councils, purgatory, and the authority of Scripture. Luther admitted that some teachings of Jan Hus were biblical and argued that church councils could make mistakes. He also denied that the pope’s supremacy had been established by divine command in Scripture. These positions moved Luther closer to the principle that Scripture alone is the final authority for Christian faith and doctrine.

Pope Leo X responded with the papal bull, Exsurge Domine in 1520, condemning forty-one statements from Luther’s writings and giving him sixty days to recant. Luther refused and publicly burned the papal bull and books of canon law. In January 1521, the bull Decet Romanum Pontificem formally excommunicated him. Luther’s excommunication did not silence him because he believed the papacy had no authority to command his conscience contrary to Scripture. The conflict then moved from Roman Catholic discipline into the political jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Empire, leading directly to Luther’s appearance at the Diet of Worms.

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