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A: Città del Vaticano, Vatican City

Pope Leo X Excommunicates Martin Luther

1/3/1521
Pope Leo X's Decet Romanum Pontificem
Pope Leo X's Decet Romanum Pontificem

On January 3, 1521 Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther in the bull Decet Romanum Pontificem, to effect the excommunication threatened in his earlier papal bull Exsurge Domine (1520), since Luther failed to recant. Luther had burned his copy of Exsurge Domine on December 10, 1520, at the Elster Gate in Wittenberg, indicating his response to the threat. The original manuscript of the January 3, 1521 bull is preserved in the Vatican Library.

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