That is written in 1523, within months of his excommunication from the Catholic Church. Such a hypocrite was he, looking for any way then to slander and turn people away the Church. It wasn't long after his excommunication that he revealed his true nature and hatred for the Jews, saying that their homes and synagogues should be burned down and covered with dirt, and the Jews themselves ("those vile swine") should be killed ("burned at the stake") or "driven from the country". Yes, now THAT is the Protestant Luther talking. The confused machinations of a deranged and hateful man. And so Protestantism is born.
btw,
He didn't want to be excommunicated, but the damage had been done and Church wanted nothing to do with him and his stupid ultimatums anymore.
Here's just a few words from Luther from the time leading up to his excommunication, and also well after it still admitting the legitimacy and authority of the Catholic Church as the true apostolic Church of Christ...
“Most Holy Father, before God and all his creation, I testify that I have never wanted, nor do I today want, to touch in any way the authority of the Roman church and of Your Holiness or demolish it by any craftiness. On the contrary I confess the authority of this church to be supreme over all, and that nothing, be it in heaven or on earth, is to be preferred to it, save the one Jesus Christ who is Lord of all.”
(Martin Luther, Letter to Pope Leo X, 1519)
“We concede — as we must — that so much of what they say is true: that the papacy has God’s word and the office of the apostles, and that we have received Holy Scriptures, Baptism, the Sacrament, and the pulpit from them. What would we know of these if it were not for them?”
(Martin Luther, Sermon on the Gospel of St. John, 1537)
“I can do only one thing, I shall most willingly promise Your Holiness that in the future I shall leave this matter of indulgences alone, and will be completely silent concerning it (if [my enemies] also stop their vain and bombastic speeches). In addition I shall publish something for the common people to make them understand that they should truly honor the Roman church, and influence them to do so. [I shall tell them] not to blame the church for the rashness of [those indulgence preachers], nor to imitate my sharp words against the Roman church, which I have used—or rather misused—against those clowns, and with which I have gone too far. Perhaps by the grace of God the discord which has arisen may finally be quieted by such an effort. I strive for only one thing: that the Roman church, our Mother, be not polluted by the filth of unsuitable avarice, and that the people be not led astray into error and taught to prefer indulgences to works of love.”
(Martin Luther, Letter to Pope Leo X, 1519)
Nah, they'd had enough. Cya Luther.