Gasparo Contarini was a Venetian nobleman, a philosopher trained at Padua, and a diplomat who represented Venice at the court of Charles V, including the Diet of Worms in 1521. In 1511 he had passed through a spiritual crisis in which he came to rest on the grace of Christ rather than his own works. In 1535, still a layman, he was made a cardinal by Paul III, and in 1537 he chaired the commission whose Consilium de emendanda ecclesia laid bare the corruption of the papal court.

Merle d’Aubigné called him “the Melancthon of the papacy.” He wished to reform the church’s doctrine and morals while keeping it under one head:

‘Assuredly, the sinner is justified by grace through faith,’ he would say to the evangelicals. ‘But why pronounce so harshly against meritorious works?’¹ Gasparo Contarinias reported by Merle d’Aubigné

In 1541 Contarini was papal legate at the Colloquy of Regensburg. The Catholic and Protestant theologians, Melanchthon and Bucer among them, agreed on an article on justification that spoke of a double righteousness, one imputed and one inherent.² The agreement collapsed over the mass, transubstantiation, and the authority of the pope, and both Rome and Luther rejected the formula on justification.

Contarini was suspected in Rome for his concessions and died at Bologna on August 24, 1542. His failure showed that the Reformation could not be reconciled with Rome by finding the right words. The question was not only how a sinner is justified, but whether Scripture or the papacy has the final word.

Catholic Opponents