That intriguing question was raised after Pope Benedict XVI paid an extraordinary tribute to the father of the Protestant Reformation in a speech to the leadership of the German Lutheran Church on September 23, the second day of his visit to German.
The first German pope since the Reformation met the Lutheran leaders in a private session, behind closed doors, in the Augustinian monastery (Augustinerkloster) at Erfurt, a city in the centre of Germany, where Luther lived, studied theology, was ordained priest between 1506 and 1511. The meeting took place in the very room where Luther took his monastic vows.
The possibility of Luther's rehabilitation was one of several questions raised at a lively press conference in Erfurt after the pope met with the Lutheran leadership in this charming medieval city of 200,000 people.
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