The Lutheran church in Germany was first called LandesKirche. I didn't say he wanted to start his own church, but if there is any question at all about his feelings towards Catholicism later in his life, he was VERY anti-catholic, calling them the whore of Babylon, etc. He was totally against anyone being a pope, etc. And yes, many of us have Catholic relatives or friends, I had one set of grandparents who were Catholic. Look online what he wrote regarding the Catholic church, I was surprised at the very strong wording. In earlier times, the church was closely tied to the monarchy, but it changed a lot when the German princes abdicated, and that is when some of the unifications took place I believe. Yes, I know he was once a Catholic monk and all that. He is often called the father of Protestantism. There is a lot of uniting of the Lutheran churches and the Reformed in Germany since the beliefs are similar. Calvin and many others didn't think Luther went far enough away from the Catholic church regarding baptism btw. Dietrich Bonhoefer, the Lutheran martyr in ww2, was not a simple country pastor. He was gaining fame and traveled a lot, trying to unite several denominations. There is the Evangelical Church in Germany which is Lutheran and Reformed and United combined. They are called the EKD also. This is a little different than the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany which is called the VELKD. Anyway, thanks to all who wrote. My first letter I thought was clear and it is correct. We don't need to get so nit-picky. Susan :-)