A tale of two whores: Dante, Luther and the Pope

I am preparing an introductory talk on Dante's radicalism and I thought I would seize on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation to offer a brief reflection on one of the hot issues in both Dante's work and Luther's ministry: the Papacy as the whore of Babylon, the prostitute enslaving the Church.

Luther's vituperation against the papacy is well-known. …