Pope Leo X declares in the bull Exsurge Domine from 15 June 1520, that 41 theses of Luther about indulgences, purgatory, penance, sins and the role of faith in justification, the competence and authority of the pope, freedom of the will and other themes are wicked. In this bull Luther is called to revoke his errors within sixty days. When he refuses this, then he and his adherents shall be certified as heretics. Luther’s books had to be burned and he himself had to be arrested.

Luther did not revoke his views, but he defended and deepened them in German and Latin. On 10 December 1520 he furthermore burned the ban bull publicly in Wittenberg. The pope reacted with the Edict of Worms, by which the ban became legally enforced. With that, Luther remained a banished member of the Roman-Catholic Church and an outlaw of the state.