What did Martin Luther witness in Rome that upset him?

Answer 1

The selling of indulgences- forgiveness, sometimes in advance, for sin. He saw that the church was becoming rich by selling the masses the right to sin. This also, invariably, meant that the rich could sin as much as they wanted and still be considered saints, but the poor who sinned once, but couldn't afford to pay for papal forgiveness were going to hell. Because they could be bought in advance of sin, business men would pay for them and then go on a long business journey and enjoy a prostitute or two. As a matter of clarification (and this is not a vindication of the practice) I believe the selling of indulgences only shortened one's appointed time in purgatory, where the faithful went who did NOT die with the stain of mortal sin on their souls. No amount of purchased indulgence would free one from hell. The link suggests that indulgences were applicable to the temporal punishment do to an individual for sins that have already been confessed.

In the year 1510 Luther together with another monk of the Augustinian order at Erfurt went to Rome to see the Pope regarding a matter that required settlement. Apart from this matter and the regular disciplines required of him Luther had an amount of time at his disposal.

'Disillusionments of various sorts set in at once. ...On making his general confession he was dismayed by the incompetence of the confessor. The abysmal ignorance, frivolity, and levity of the Italian priests stupefied him. They could rattle through six or seven masses while he was saying one. And when he was only at the Gospel, they had finished and would say to him "Passa! Passa!" - "Get a move on!" ....Some of the Italian clergy however were flippantly unbelieving and would address the sacrament saying "Bread thou art and bread thou wilt remain." To a devout believer from the unsophisticated Northland such disclosures were truly shocking.

'By a like token the stories that came to Luther's ears of the immorality of the Roman clergy should not logically have undermined his faith...At the same time he was horrified to hear that if there were a hell Rome was built over it. He need not have been a scandalmonger to know that the district of ill fame was frequented by ecclesiastics. He heard there were those who considered themselves virtuous because they confined themselves to women. The unsavory memory of Pope Alexander VI was still a stench. Catholic historians recognize candidly the scandal of the Renaissance popes, and the Catholic Reformation was as greatly concerned as the Protestant about such abuses.'

According to the historian Roland H Bainton from whose work 'Here I Stand' the above quotations are made Luther only had doubts at this time and he did not exclaim at the top of the stairs at St Peters up which he had ascended on his knees "The just shall live by faith". His spiritual journey had not reached that point. What he actually said expressed the doubt he had in his mind and soul "Who knows whether it is so."

The question of indulgences only came in to focus through the preaching of Tetzel in 1517 of indulgences for the building project of St Peters in Rome. This of course led to the nailing up of the 95 Theses against Indulgences on October 31st 1517.