Introduction

My exhibit focuses on Martin Luther’s Passional Christi und Antichristi, a pamphlet that showcased Luther’s grievances against the papacy, as he saw them, and his comparison of the corruption of the Pope to the Antichrist. The pamphlet was considered controversial for its opposition of the Pope and promotion of Protestant ideologies. The challenge that this pamphlet brought forth was initiated by the threat it posed to the papacy and the Catholic Church in its polemic writings and illustrations. The pamphlet’s emphasis on the rejection of the Pope and further comparison to the Antichrist set a damaging reputation for the traditional Catholic church in Germany. However, the challenge of focus is how the pamphlet brought out firm supporters of the Catholic faith and opposers to the Protestant ideologies that Luther wrote about. These opposers despised and threatened Luther by branding his works as acts of heresy.