The head of the Vatican's office for Christian unity has said the Reformation might have been averted if only bishops at the time had been more open to criticism.
Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told an audience of Catholic and Lutheran leaders at the Catholic University of America: "If Martin Luther's call for reform and repentance had found open ears among the bishops of the time and of the pope in Rome, the reform intended to be initiated by him would not have become the Reformation.”
