Thomas Cardinal Cajetan, also known as Tommaso de Vio, was sent
to the diet of Augsburg in 1518 to bring Luther back into the fold.
Cajetan, appearing in full clerical pomp and regalia, used
arguments by Thomas Aquinas to try to convince Luther to recant.
Luther responded by insulting the writings of Aquinas, since he
despised the entire scholastic system, as his writings made
clear.
By apparently not knowing his audience, Cardinal Cajetan missed
a chance to approach the issue from another angle, perhaps by
expressing agreement with Luther that the poor teaching and
misunderstandings about indulgences were a cause of scandal. He
might then have appealed for Luther to direct his energies at
undertaking the needed reform of the Church from within, instead of
scrapping the entire sacramental system, the hierarchy of the
Church, holy days, and so on. He thus could be said to have lost a
precious opportunity to avoid the subsequent shipwreck of
Christendom.
But that was not to be. Later, another cardinal , Cardinal
Aleander who was the papal legate to Germany, encouraged young
Charles V to try Luther at the Diet of Worms.