Exsurge Domine, by Pope Leo X

Exsurge Domine, a papal bull issued by Pope Leo X on June 15, 1520, marks a pivotal moment in the Catholic Church’s response to the growing influence of Martin Luther and his teachings. The bull formally condemned 41 of Luther’s propositions, which were deemed heretical, scandalous, or offensive to pious ears. Rooted in the Church’s authority, the document called for Luther and his followers to recant their errors within 60 days or face excommunication. This declaration aimed to curb the spread of Protestantism and protect the unity and doctrine of the Catholic faith. Despite the bull’s demands, Luther famously rejected its contents, burning the document publicly, an act that further solidified the schism between the Catholic Church and the emerging Protestant movement.

BULL AGAINST THE ERRORS OF MARTIN LUTHER AND HIS FOLLOWERS

Leo, Bishop, Servant of the Servants of God

For perpetual remembrance.

Arise, O Lord, and judge Your cause; remember the reproaches against You that occur throughout the day by the foolish. Incline Your ear to our prayers, for foxes have risen up seeking to destroy the vineyard that You alone have pressed, and upon ascending to the Father, You entrusted its care, management, and governance to Peter as the head and Your vicar, and to his successors, as a reflection of the triumphant Church. The boar from the forest strives to destroy it, and the wild beast seeks to devour it. Arise, Peter, and attend to the care of the Holy Roman Church, Mother of all churches and teacher of the faith, which you consecrated with your blood by God’s command, against which, as you warned, false teachers arise, introducing destructive sects and bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Their tongues are a fire, an uncontrollable evil, full of deadly poison. These individuals, filled with bitter zeal and strife in their hearts, boast and lie against the truth. Arise also, we beseech you, Paul, who illuminated and glorified this Church by your teaching and your equal martyrdom.

A new Porphyry has arisen, for just as that ancient critic unjustly bit at the holy Apostles, so this one attacks the holy pontiffs, our predecessors. Instead of pleading with them, he scorns and tears them apart. When he doubts his own case, he resorts to insults, in the manner of heretics, whose last defense, as Jerome says, is to spread the poison of the serpent’s tongue. When they see their cause is lost, they turn to insults. Although you said heresies are necessary to test the faith of the faithful, it is necessary to extinguish them in their infancy, so they do not grow or gain strength, with your intercession and aid.

Let all the saints and the entire universal Church arise, which, neglecting the true interpretation of Sacred Scripture, has been blinded by the father of lies. Some interpret the same Scriptures differently than the Holy Spirit intended, using their own sense of ambition and the wind of popular opinion, as the Apostle testifies. They twist and corrupt the Scriptures, so that, as Jerome says, it is no longer the Gospel of Christ but of man, or worse, of the devil. Let the Holy Church of God, along with the most blessed Apostles, intercede with almighty God so that the errors of His flock may be corrected, all heresies driven from the faithful, and peace and unity preserved in His holy Church.

For some time now, although we can scarcely express it due to anguish and sorrow, it has come to our ears—by trustworthy reports and public fame, indeed, with great sadness we have seen and read it ourselves—that many and various errors, some of which have already been condemned by councils and the decrees of our predecessors, and which contain elements of the heresies of the Greeks and Bohemians, have been revived by some. Others, whether heretical, false, scandalous, offensive to pious ears, or seductive to simple minds, have been spread by false worshippers of the faith, who, out of proud curiosity, desire worldly glory contrary to the Apostle’s teaching, wanting to appear wiser than they ought. Their babbling (as Jerome says) would not have found credence without the authority of the Scriptures, which they pervert with misinterpretation. These errors, raised up anew by individuals lacking the fear of God, have been sown among certain unstable people in the renowned nation of Germany.

What pains us even more is that it has happened in a nation that we and our predecessors have always held in the deepest affection. After the transfer of the empire from the Greeks to the Romans, our predecessors and we have consistently received defenders and advocates of the Church from among the Germans, who have always been known as true defenders of the Catholic faith and fierce opponents of heresies. This is attested by the praiseworthy constitutions of the German emperors in defense of the Church and the expulsion and extermination of heretics throughout Germany, under severe penalties, including the loss of lands and domains for those who harbor or fail to expel them. These constitutions were once issued and confirmed by our predecessors and, if they were observed today, we would certainly not face these troubles.

The Council of Constance condemned and punished the treachery of the Hussites, Wycliffites, and Jerome of Prague. The blood of the Germans shed so often against the Bohemians bears witness. Finally, the condemnation, rejection, and refutation of these errors or many of them by the Universities of Cologne and Louvain, which are devout cultivators of the Lord’s field, as much learned as pious and truthful, also testifies. There are many other examples we could cite, but to avoid writing a history, we have chosen to pass them over.

Therefore, by the divine grace of the pastoral office entrusted to us, we can no longer tolerate or ignore the poisonous virus of these errors without discredit to the Christian religion and injury to the orthodox faith. We have decided to set forth some of these errors here, whose content follows: —

1. It is a heretical statement, though common, that the sacraments of the New Law confer justifying grace on those who do not place an obstacle.

2. To deny that sin remains in a child after baptism is to trample upon both Paul and Christ.

3. The inclination to sin, even if no actual sin is present, delays the soul departing from the body from entering heaven.

4. Imperfect charity in the dying necessarily carries with it great fear, which alone is sufficient to cause the punishment of purgatory and hinders entry into the kingdom.

5. That penance consists of three parts—contrition, confession, and satisfaction—is not founded in Sacred Scripture nor in the teachings of the ancient holy Christian doctors.

6. The contrition that comes from examining, recollecting, and detesting sins, by which one reflects on the years in the bitterness of their soul, considering the gravity, number, and foulness of sins, the loss of eternal beatitude, and the acquisition of eternal damnation—this kind of contrition makes a hypocrite and even a greater sinner.

7. The saying is absolutely true, and superior to all other teachings on contrition given thus far: The best penance is to sin no more, the best penance is a new life.

8. You should in no way presume to confess venial sins, nor even all mortal sins, because it is impossible to know all mortal sins. In the primitive Church, only manifest mortal sins were confessed.

9. When we wish to confess everything purely, we do nothing else but leave nothing for the mercy of God to forgive.

10. Sins are not forgiven unless the priest remitting them believes they are forgiven; indeed, the sin would remain unless he believes it to be forgiven. It is not sufficient to have the remission of the sin and the gift of grace; one must also believe that it is forgiven.

11. You should in no way trust that you are absolved because of your contrition, but because of Christ's word: Whatever you loose, etc. Thus, I say, trust if you have obtained the priest's absolution and firmly believe that you are absolved, and you will indeed be absolved, no matter the state of your contrition.

12. If, per impossibility, a person confessed without being contrite, or if a priest gave absolution in jest rather than seriously, yet the person believed they were absolved, they are truly absolved.

13. In the sacrament of penance, the remission of sin is no greater when done by the Pope or a bishop than by the lowest priest. Indeed, where there is no priest, any Christian, even a woman or child, can grant the same remission.

14. No one should tell the priest that they are contrite, nor should the priest ask for it.

15. It is a great error for those who approach the sacrament of the Eucharist to rely on the fact that they have confessed, are not conscious of any mortal sin, or have recited their prayers and preparations. All such people eat and drink judgment upon themselves. But if they believe and trust that they will receive grace, this faith alone makes them pure and worthy.

16. It seems advisable that the Church should decree in a general council that the laity should receive communion in both kinds (bread and wine). The Bohemians who receive communion in both kinds are not heretics but schismatics.

17. The treasures of the Church, from which the Pope grants indulgences, are not the merits of Christ and the saints.

18. Indulgences are pious deceits of the faithful, and remissions of unnecessary burdens; they belong to the things that are permitted, not to those that are useful.

19. Indulgences, even if truly obtained, do not serve for the remission of penalties owed for actual sins according to divine justice.

20. Those who believe that indulgences are beneficial and useful for the fruit of the spirit are deceived.

21. Indulgences are necessary only for public crimes, and are properly granted only to the hard-hearted and impatient.

22. Indulgences are neither necessary nor useful for six types of people: the dead or dying, the sick, those legitimately hindered, those who have committed no crimes, those who have committed crimes but not public ones, and those who perform better works.

23. Excommunications are only external penalties and do not deprive a person of the common spiritual prayers of the Church.

24. Christians should be taught to love excommunication rather than fear it.

25. The Roman Pontiff, successor of Peter, is not the vicar of Christ over all the churches of the world, established by Christ in blessed Peter.

26. Christ’s word to Peter: Whatever you bind on earth, etc., applies only to those things bound by Peter himself.

27. It is certain that neither the Church nor the Pope has the authority to establish articles of faith, nor laws concerning morals or good works.

28. Even if the Pope, along with a large part of the Church, agreed on one point or another, it is neither a sin nor heresy to hold a contrary opinion, especially on matters not necessary for salvation, until one side is condemned and the other approved by a general council.

29. We are permitted to explain the authority of councils, to contradict their actions freely, to judge their decrees, and to confess confidently whatever seems true, whether it has been approved or condemned by any council.

30. Some of the articles of John Hus condemned at the Council of Constance are most Christian, most truthful, and evangelical, which the universal Church could not condemn.

31. In every good work, the righteous sin.

32. A good work, performed in the best way possible, is a venial sin.

33. It is against the will of the Spirit to burn heretics.

34. To fight against the Turks is to resist God, who is punishing our iniquities through them.

35. No one is certain that they do not always commit mortal sin because of the most hidden vice of pride.

36. Free will after sin is a matter of title only, and when it does what it can, it sins mortally.

37. Purgatory cannot be proven from Sacred Scripture, which is part of the canon.

38. Souls in purgatory are not sure of their salvation, at least not all of them; nor is it proven by any reasons or Scriptures that they are beyond the state of merit or of growing in charity.

39. Souls in purgatory sin without interruption as long as they seek rest and shudder at the punishments.

40. Souls freed from purgatory by the suffrages of the living are less blessed than if they had satisfied on their own.

41. Ecclesiastical prelates and secular princes would not do wrong if they destroyed all the begging bags.

Indeed, no one of sound mind is unaware of how pestilential, pernicious, scandalous, and seductive to pious and simple minds these errors are, and how they are ultimately opposed to all charity and to the reverence due to the Holy Roman Church, the mother of all the faithful and the teacher of the faith. These errors also strike at the very foundation of ecclesiastical discipline—obedience, which is the source and origin of all virtues, without which it is easy to prove anyone to be faithless.

Therefore, we, considering these matters as most grave and proceeding with the greatest care, as is proper, wish to prevent this pest and cancerous disease from further spreading in the Lord’s field like a harmful thorn. After diligent weighing, discussion, strict examination, and mature deliberation on the aforementioned errors and each of them individually, and after careful consideration of everything with the venerable brothers, Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, the priors or ministers general of various religious orders, and several other teachers of sacred theology and both civil and canon law, who are indeed most learned, we have found these errors (as mentioned above) or articles to be not Catholic and not to be taught as such, but rather contrary to the doctrine or tradition of the Catholic Church and to the true interpretation of Sacred Scripture received from it. Augustine judged that the authority of the Church was to be so fully respected that he said he would not have believed the Gospel if not for the authority of the Catholic Church.

For from these errors, or from some of them, or even from just one of them, it openly follows that the same Church, which is governed by the Holy Spirit, errs and has always erred. This is certainly contrary to what Christ promised His disciples at His Ascension, as is recorded in the Holy Gospel of Matthew: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” It is also contrary to the determinations of the Holy Fathers, as well as to the express ordinances or canons of councils and supreme pontiffs. As Cyprian testifies, failing to obey these has always been the source and cause of all heresies and schisms.

Therefore, with the advice and consent of the same venerable brothers and with mature deliberation on all and each of the aforementioned, by the authority of Almighty God, the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and our own, we condemn, reject, and utterly repudiate all and each of the aforementioned articles or errors, as they are respectively heretical, scandalous, false, offensive to pious ears, seductive to simple minds, and contrary to Catholic truth. We declare and decree, by the tenor of this document, that they should be held by all the faithful of Christ, of both sexes, as condemned, rejected, and repudiated. These errors must neither be defended nor published.

We forbid, by the power of holy obedience and under the penalty of major excommunication, and also with regard to ecclesiastical and religious persons, whether belonging to any Episcopal, even Patriarchal, Metropolitan, and other Cathedral Churches, Monasteries, or Priories, including Conventual ones, or of any dignities or ecclesiastical benefices, secular or of any regular orders, the penalties of deprivation and disqualification from holding these or any others in the future. Likewise, with respect to convents, chapters, houses, or pious secular or regular places, even of mendicant orders, as well as universities of any general studies and whatever privileges obtained from the Apostolic See or its legates, or otherwise obtained in any manner, regardless of their tenor: also, the right and power of holding general studies, lecturing, and interpreting any sciences and faculties, and the disqualification from holding these and others in the future; also, the office of preaching and the loss of the privileges of general studies and all their privileges.

As for secular persons, they are subjected to the same excommunication and the loss of any emphyteusis or feudal holdings, whether obtained from the Roman Church or otherwise, and disqualification from holding these or others in the future. Furthermore, with respect to all and each of the aforementioned persons, we impose the penalty of ecclesiastical burial prohibition and disqualification from all legitimate acts, as well as the penalties of infamy, defamation, treason, and the crime of lèse-majesté, and those for heretics and their supporters as expressed in the law. These penalties are incurred automatically and without further declaration by all the aforementioned persons if (heaven forbid) they act contrary to this.

No one may be absolved from these penalties by virtue of any authority or clauses, even in any confessions granted to any persons, under any form of words, unless by the Roman Pontiff or by another person specifically authorized by him, except in the case of imminent death.

We decree that all the faithful of Christ, both lay and clerical, secular and regular of any orders, and any other persons, regardless of their status, rank, or condition, and regardless of their ecclesiastical or worldly dignity, including Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, Prelates of Patriarchal, Metropolitan, Cathedral, Collegiate, or lower churches, clergy, and other ecclesiastical persons, whether secular or regular, including mendicants, abbots, priors or general or particular ministers, brothers, or religious, exempt or non-exempt, and also universities of secular studies or of any regular orders, including mendicants, and kings, emperors, electors, princes, dukes, marquises, counts, barons, captains, commanders, noblemen, officials, judges, notaries, ecclesiastical or secular communities, universities, powers, cities, fortresses, lands, or places, or their citizens, inhabitants, and residents, and any other ecclesiastical or regular persons (as mentioned above) throughout the world, especially those in Germany, or those who will be there in the future, must not presume to assert, affirm, defend, preach, or in any way, either publicly or secretly, by any contrived method or excuse, favor the aforementioned errors or any of them, or this perverse doctrine, either tacitly or expressly.

Furthermore, since the aforementioned errors, along with many others, are contained in the books and writings of Martin Luther, we likewise condemn, reject, and utterly repudiate the said books and all of Martin’s writings or sermons, whether they be in Latin or any other language, in which these errors or any of them are found. We wish them to be regarded as condemned, rejected, and completely repudiated, as mentioned above. We order, by virtue of holy obedience and under the penalties previously stated, that all and each of the faithful of Christ, of both sexes, mentioned above, may not presume to read, assert, preach, praise, print, publish, or defend these writings, books, sermons, or pamphlets containing the aforementioned chapters, errors, or articles, either directly or indirectly, openly or secretly, publicly or privately, or to keep them in their homes or in any other public or private places in any way. On the contrary, we mandate that immediately after the publication of this decree, these writings, wherever they may be found, should be diligently sought out by the ordained and others mentioned above, and publicly and solemnly burned in the presence of the clergy and the people, under all the penalties mentioned above.

As for Martin himself (good God!), what have we left undone? What have we not done? What have we omitted in fatherly charity to bring him back from such errors? After we summoned him and sought to proceed with him more gently, we invited him, both through various discussions held with our legate and through our letters, urging him to abandon these errors. We even offered him safe conduct and the money necessary for the journey so that, without any fear or apprehension, which perfect charity should cast out, he might come and speak, not in secret, but openly and publicly, following the example of our Savior and the Apostle Paul. If he had done this, surely (we believe) he would have returned to his senses and recognized his errors. Nor would he have found so many faults in the Roman Curia, which he criticizes more than he should, relying too much on the vain rumors of malevolent people. We would have demonstrated to him, more clearly than the light of day, that the holy Roman pontiffs, whom he has unjustly torn apart without any modesty, have never erred in their canons or constitutions, which he tries to attack. For, as the prophet says, “there is no balm in Gilead, nor is there a physician lacking.”

But he refused to listen and, having spurned the aforementioned summons and all that it involved, he scorned to come. Even up to the present day, in his stubbornness and hardened heart, he has endured censures for more than a year. What is worse, adding evil to evil, he, knowing of this summons, rashly appealed to a future council, against the constitution of Pius II and Julius II, our predecessors, which decreed that those making such appeals are to be punished with the penalty of heretics (and he has in vain sought the aid of the Council, which he openly professes not to trust). Thus, we can now proceed against him, as someone notoriously suspected of heresy, indeed as a true heretic, without any further summons or delay, to condemn and denounce him as a heretic and to apply the full severity of all the aforementioned penalties and censures.

Nevertheless, following the advice of our same brothers, imitating the mercy of Almighty God, who does not desire the death of the sinner but rather that he be converted and live, we have resolved to forget all the injuries inflicted upon us and the Apostolic See up to this point, and to use all the compassion at our disposal. We are determined, as much as lies within us, to proceed with a path of gentleness, so that he may return to his senses and abandon his errors, and so that we may receive him kindly as the prodigal son returning to the embrace of the Church. Therefore, we exhort and implore Martin himself and all who adhere to him, as well as his supporters and protectors, by the tender mercy of our God and by the sprinkling of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the redemption of the human race and the building up of Holy Mother Church has been accomplished, from the depths of our hearts, that they cease to disturb the peace, unity, and truth of the Church, for which the Savior prayed so fervently to the Father. We ask them to completely abstain from the aforementioned most pernicious errors, and they will find in us, if they effectively comply and confirm their compliance through legitimate documents, the affection of fatherly charity and an open fountain of gentleness and mercy.

Nevertheless, we also forbid Martin from this point forward from engaging in any preaching or the office of preaching. Otherwise, if love for justice and virtue does not withdraw him from sin, and the hope of indulgence does not lead him to repentance, then the fear of punishment must discipline him. Therefore, we require and admonish Martin, along with his adherents, accomplices, supporters, and protectors, by virtue of holy obedience, under the threat of all the aforementioned penalties that will be incurred automatically, and we strictly command them, that within sixty days—of which twenty will be the first term, twenty the second, and the remaining twenty the third and final term, to be counted from the posting of this document in the places mentioned below—they must completely desist from the aforementioned errors, from their preaching, publication, and assertion, as well as from their defense, and from the publication of books or writings on these matters or any of them. They must also burn or cause to be burned all the books and writings containing these errors or any of them.

Martin himself must revoke these errors and assertions entirely, and concerning this revocation, he must send to us public documents, valid in legal form and signed in the hands of two prelates, to be transmitted to us within a further sixty days. Alternatively, if Martin wishes to come to us himself (which we would prefer), he may bring such documents with the full safe conduct we hereby grant. In this way, he can ensure that no doubt remains about his true obedience.

Otherwise, if (God forbid) the aforementioned Martin, his accomplices, supporters, adherents, and protectors act otherwise, or do not fully carry out all of the above within the prescribed time, imitating the teaching of the Apostle, who taught that a heretic must be avoided after the first and second correction, we declare, as we do now and henceforth, that the same Martin, along with his accomplices, adherents, supporters, and protectors, and any of them, like dry branches that do not remain in Christ but teach a doctrine contrary to the Catholic faith, either scandalous or condemned, which causes grave offense to the divine majesty and brings harm and scandal to the universal Church and the Catholic faith, despising also the keys of the Church, are to be known as notorious and obstinate heretics. We declare them to have been and to be such by the same authority, and by this decree, we condemn them as such and order all the faithful of Christ, of both sexes, to regard them as such. We subject them to all the aforementioned penalties and others inflicted by law upon such individuals, and we decree and declare that they are ensnared in these penalties.

Moreover, we forbid all the faithful of Christ, as mentioned above, under the threat of all the aforementioned penalties incurred automatically, from reading, asserting, preaching, praising, printing, publishing, or defending, either directly or indirectly, explicitly or implicitly, publicly or privately, in their homes or in other public or private places, any of the writings, even those that do not contain the aforementioned errors, that have been or will be written or published by Martin in any way, as they are from a man who is an enemy of the orthodox faith and therefore gravely suspect, and to ensure that his memory is utterly erased from the fellowship of the faithful of Christ. On the contrary, we command that these writings be burned, as mentioned above.

Furthermore, we admonish all the faithful of Christ, under the same penalty of automatic excommunication, to avoid, as much as possible, the aforementioned heretics, who have been declared and condemned, and who do not comply with our commands after the aforementioned time has passed, and to ensure that they are avoided. They are not to have any dealings or conversations or any communion with them, nor are they to provide them with any necessities.

For the greater confusion of the said Martin and his accomplices, supporters, adherents, and protectors, who have been declared heretics and condemned after the passing of the aforementioned period, we command all and each of the faithful of Christ, of both sexes, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, prelates of patriarchal, metropolitan, and other cathedral, collegiate, and lower churches, chapters, and other ecclesiastical persons, secular and from any orders, even mendicant orders (especially of that congregation of which the said Martin is professed and in which he is said to live or stay), whether exempt or non-exempt; and we also command all and each of the princes, regardless of their ecclesiastical or worldly dignity—kings, electors of the emperor, dukes, marquises, counts, barons, captains, commanders, noblemen, communities, universities, powers, cities, lands, fortresses, and places, or their inhabitants, citizens, and residents, and all others and each of the aforementioned, throughout the world, especially those located in the same Germany—that under the threat of all and each of the aforementioned penalties, they or any of them must personally capture the aforementioned Martin, along with his accomplices, adherents, protectors, and supporters, and, having captured them, retain them at our request and send them to us. For such a good work, they will receive a reward and fitting recompense from us and the Apostolic See. Or, at the very least, they must expel them, or any one of them, from metropolitan, cathedral, collegiate, and other churches, houses, monasteries, convents, cities, dominions, universities, communities, fortresses, lands, and places respectively, whether they are clerics or laypeople, regular or secular, as mentioned above.

Furthermore, we subject to ecclesiastical interdict the cities, dominions, lands, fortresses, villages, counties, castles, towns, and any places where they may be, along with their respective metropolitan, cathedral, collegiate, and other churches, monasteries, priories, houses, convents, and religious or pious places of any order (as mentioned above), into which the said Martin or any of the aforementioned persons may enter. This interdict shall last as long as they remain there and for three days after their departure.

And so that the aforementioned matters may become known to all, we furthermore command all patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, prelates of patriarchal, metropolitan, and other cathedral and collegiate churches, chapters, and other ecclesiastical persons, secular and regular from any of the aforementioned orders, religious brothers, monks, exempt and non-exempt, especially those located in Germany, that they, or any one of them, under the same penalties and censures that they will automatically incur, publicly announce and declare in their churches, on Sundays and other feast days when a large congregation is gathered for divine services, that Martin and all the others mentioned above, who, after the expiration of the specified time, have not obeyed our commands or admonitions, are declared heretics and condemned. They are to ensure that these announcements are made by others as well, and that all avoid them. We likewise order all the faithful of Christ to avoid them, under the same censures and penalties.

Moreover, they are to ensure that these present letters, or an official copy of them made in the form prescribed below, are read, published, and posted in their churches, monasteries, houses, convents, and other places. We also excommunicate and anathematize all and each person, of whatever status, rank, condition, pre-eminence, dignity, or excellence, who prevents or in any way hinders, either themselves or through others, publicly or privately, directly or indirectly, expressly or tacitly, these letters or their copies or exemplars from being read, posted, and published in their lands and dominions.

Finally, since it would be difficult to have these present letters delivered to each and every place where necessary, we decree and declare by apostolic authority that copies of these letters, made and signed by the hand of a public notary, or printed in the city of Rome and sealed with the seal of an ecclesiastical prelate, should be accepted and given full faith everywhere, just as the original letters would be if they were presented or shown.

And so that the aforementioned Martin and all others mentioned above, whom these present letters in any way concern, may not claim ignorance of these letters and of everything contained in them, we decree that these letters must be posted and published on the doors of the Basilica of the Prince of the Apostles, the Apostolic Chancery, and the cathedral churches of Brandenburg, Meissen, and Merseburg. We further decree that the publication of these letters in this manner will bind Martin and all the others mentioned above, whom these letters in any way concern, as if these letters had been personally read and intimated to them on the day of their posting and publication, since it is not believable that such public actions could remain unknown to them.

Notwithstanding any apostolic constitutions and ordinances, or if it has been granted or conceded by the aforementioned Apostolic See or by those having power from it, under any form, even confessional, and with any clauses, however strong, or for any reason or great consideration, that the aforementioned persons or each and every one of them, or any others, cannot be interdicted, suspended, or excommunicated by apostolic letters, unless they make full and explicit mention, word for word, and not by general clauses referring to such matters—if there be any such indult, its tenor, causes, and forms shall be considered as if they were inserted word for word, and thus be completely nullified, holding them as expressed in these presents.

Therefore, let no one at all dare to infringe upon this page of our condemnation, reprobation, rejection, decree, declaration, prohibition, will, command, exhortation, entreaty, request, admonition, assignment, concession, condemnation, subjection, excommunication, and anathematization, or to oppose it with reckless daring. But if anyone should presume to do so, let them know that they will incur the indignation of Almighty God and of His blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.

Given at Rome, at St. Peter’s, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 1520, on the 17th of June, in the eighth year of our Pontificate.

Seen by R. Milanesius.

Albergatus.

Printed in Rome by Jacobus Mazochius

By the command of Our Holy Lord, the Pope.