In response to the corruption he witnessed on a trip to Rome, he declared that the sale of Papal indulgences was wrong and worthless. There were treatises and countertreatises, denunciations and counterdenunciations, the faithful murdering the protestors and the protestors murdering the faithful. The Church, once the center of the civilization by which progress was allowed and righteousness was encouraged, was torn asunder. People who should be calling one another 'brother' instead distrust and hate each other and whisper slander among themselves.
Protestants are damned dissenters, heretics, malformed.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ said that even saying 'you fool' is to risk the fires of hell. One religion has branched into two theologies so disparate as to make dialogue difficult at best and impossible at worst. Though I have no illusions that closing such a gap will be wrenchingly difficult, I will today make the first great leap. That is the reason I have asked the press and many Protestant leaders here today. I do not sit here today to apologize for the many sins of the Church.