What is the one outstanding and major difference between Martin Luther and Catholicism?

Answer 1

There were many major differences, but apparently the one that started his reformation movement was the belief that forgiveness was a gift granted by God alone through faith in Jesus Christ. He stated that it could not be granted by the clergy based on monetary offerings given by the person who has sinned or their families on their behalf.

Answer 2

Actually, I was raised as a Lutheran, I started the three years of Lutheran Confirmation classes in 7th grade. I made it about one month into them when I realized that there was no Christianity in Lutheranism, that the Christian Church as founded by Our Blessed Lord in the first century, and guaranteed by Him to last until the end of the world was NOT the Church that Martin Luther had dreamed up out of thin air.

By the time I was sixteen years of age, I had converted to the Catholic Church - the only Church which God Himself founded, and certainly the only Church that is guaranteed by Him. One of the things that I learned early on was the need for humility before God; without humility we cannot be saved.

We are told in the Sacred Scriptures by Our Blessed Lord that we cannot judge anyone, only God can see into the heart. On the other hand we must judge actions, and Martin Luther's actions were anything but humble to the truth that Our Blessed Lord gave to His Church to give to us for us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (St. Paul).

Martin Luther threw all the books out of the Bible with which he did not agree (Other Protestant "reformers" put back the ones he had thrown out of the New Testament), and those that Luther kept, he mistranslated deliberately in order to get them to agree with himself - such as putting the word "alone" in after you are saved by faith. The only time that the words "faith" and "alone" come together in the Bible is in St. James Letter in which they have the word NOT before them: You are NOT saved by faith alone.

from Radio Replies, by Fathers Rumble and Carty, 1942

221 The power of Romanism was shattered by Martin Luther, of immortal memory.

Martin Luther is undoubtedly an outstanding figure in history. But the immortal memory of Luther will become less and less pleasant as the facts concerning him become known. Those who idealize Luther can do so only by ignoring an immense amount of inconvenient information. He was a priest of the Catholic Church, but one who was not faithful to his obligations even as a Christian. On his own admissions he was a victim of both immorality and drunkenness; and he was the most intolerant of men. Far from granting liberty of conscience, he refused to allow anyone to think differently from himself, and coolly said, “Whoever teaches otherwise than I teach is a child of hell.”

265. Did not Luther give ninety reasons for leaving the Catholic Church?

He gave many excuses, but no real reasons. Before he left the Church, he was a member of a religious order, vowed for the love of Christ to poverty, chastity, and obedience. He broke all three vows. Vices, whether intellectual or moral, are excuses, not reasons, for leaving the Church.

269. Do you know of any good in Luther?

Intellectually, not much. He declared that reason was of the devil, and that the Christian must regard it as his greatest enemy. Morally, less still. St. Paul says that those who are Christ’s have crucified their flesh with its vices and concupiscences. (Gal. V., 24.) That Luther indulged his vices and concupiscences is clear from his writings, where he gives disgraceful descriptions of his own indulgence in everything passionate. His diaries record shocking excesses of sensuality, which could not be printed in any decent book to-day. A true Apostle of Christ does not give vent to such expressions as, “To be continent and chaste is not in me,” or, “Why do I sit soaked in wine.” I do not say these things merely to detract from the memory of Luther. But it is not right that people should be duped by the thought that Luther was a well-balanced and saintly reformer. He was not entirely devoid of good qualities. He was endowed with a certain kindness and generosity. But this does not compensate for his vices. He should have controlled his sentimentality and emotional nature in the light of Christian principles. He did not, but gave free rein to his lower passions, calmly saying that a man has to do so, and will not be responsible for such conduct.

Answer 3

In speaking about the one, the single basic difference between Catholicism and Lutheranism many vies have been expressed. There is no single major difference that all theologians agree upon. Perhaps this is so because Luther was full of new ideas. Many theologians cite the following: Man is justified by faith and not by works.It may be recalled that St. Peter and St. Paul were at odds on this very issue. The word of "may" in the previous sentence is significant.