Luther was supported by a number of secular rulers, partly for political reasons. His challenging ideas were also embraced in a genuinely popular movement, and his theology was spread in Germany by numerous preachers. .
In response to this challenge papal authorities ordered Luther to retract and submit to church authority, but he became more stubborn, appealing for reform, attacking the sacramental system, and urging that religion rest on individual faith based on the guidance contained in the Bible. Threatened with excommunication by the pope, Luther publicly burned the bull, or papal decree, of excommunication and with it a volume of canon law. (Barzun 20) .
This dramatic act of defiance symbolized a definitive break with the entire system of the Western church. In an attempt to halt the tide of revolt the Holy Roman emperor, Charles V, and the German princes and ecclesiastics gathered at the Diet of Worms, and ordered Luther to recant. He refused and was declared an outlaw. For almost a year he remained in hiding, writing pamphlets defending his principles and translating the New Testament into German. Although his works were banned by imperial edict, they were openly bought and sold and had a powerful influence in turning the great German cities into strongholds of Lutheranism. .
As a result, church liturgy was transformed, congregational singing was stimulated, and new modes of communal living developed. The decrees of rulers and cities gave the Reformation a firm organizational foundation through independent state churches. Finally, after decades of religious conflict, the Peace of Augsburg granted freedom of worship to Protestants in 1555. .
More overwhelmingly, the Reformation forever divided the Catholic Church, and ultimately led to freedom of dissent. The preparation for the movement was long and there had been earlier calls for reform by leaders such as John Wycliffe and John Huss.
