The Pope at the current time, Leo X, believed that the responsibility to consider, in the worlds eye, what is right and what is wrong lied in the hands of the Church. He takes to the saints Peter, Paul etc. to cleanse the church of its heretical concepts. The establishment of the decree was, as a purpose, a form of eradicating heresy, throughout the minds of the Catholic church. A one-to-one interaction with God was more prevalent in Pope Leo X’s principles, therefore creating the hierarchy of a personal relationship with God. This circumvents the original ideals of the Catholic church, neglecting the Pope as a mediator. The act of communion is essential to the Christian practice, but the Protestant idea of such practice was in contrast with Pope Leo’s notion of the unification of the church. Based in the traditional church view, eucharist should be taken as a physical act for the individuals in the church in order to feel connected with Christ. Although the Protasents saw that the authority figure, the Pope, was in the way of a authentic relationship with Christ. The papal authority was a road block for individuals. This caused a lack of intimacy with the Lord Jesus.

Pope Leo X begins the decree by calling upon the Lord to judge the Protestants and he then calls upon Peter, Paul, and every other saint to purge the catholic “sheep” of their heretical ideas. The rest of his introduction goes on to imply that it is the Catholic church’s job to to deem what is right and what is heretical and he says that his justification for that is the acts of his predecessors, (which seems circular to me but I guess if precedent is something we are to follow as christians i shouldn’t question the pope’s ideas). The idea that the introduction gives the reader is that every idea the church has deemed heretical and every action they have taken to weed out heresy has been to ensure the security and the sanctity of the church as a whole. the Teachings that the pope lists as heretical all seem to follow a similar idealogical vein, namely that christianity is not a prescribed religion and is not dependent on the works of priests and bishops and even popes, but instead that it is one that is developed by one’s one experiences and one’s one relationship with God. The protestant ideas of the eucharist and of penance disturb Pope Leo’s “peace and unity of the holy church” by saying that the things that the church is currently doing are being done wrong or are completely inconsequential and shouldn’t be regarded as essential. The eucharist for example the protestants believed that the fact that transubstantiation was taught by the church was just a power grab to keep people coming back to them for their magical powers and not what it really should have been, a remembrance of the community that christ had built around him before his death. The protestants also spoke out about papal authority namely, excommunication and the powers of the pope over the people. The protestant teachings about excommunication, that is does not really separate someone from the church’s prayers and thoughts and it is merely a physical punishment. They also said that the pope is not the ambassador for Christ on earth and that the bible verses that the pope uses to assure that his power is legitimate  are taken out of context and were never meant to apply in the circumstances that the popes are applying them to. they also spoke out against the crusades and said that to fight the turks was to “resist God.” All of the teachings that the Pope goes over in this decree are aimed at undermining the legitimacy of the Papal See and they argue that it is our job as individuals to express our opinions as freely as we can and we shouldn’t be persecuted for it.