Question

How did church authorities react to Luther’s Ninety-five Theses?

Church authorities published Luther’s Ninety-five Theses.
Church authorities investigated Luther’s Ninety-five Theses.
Church authorities complemented Luther’s Ninety-five Theses.
Church authorities approved Luther’s Ninety-five Theses.
Church authorities encouraged academics to debate Luther’s Ninety-five Theses.

Answer 1

Short answers:
- Church authorities published Luther’s Ninety-five Theses. — No.
Luther’s Theses were circulated widely because printers made pamphlet editions, not because church officials officially published them.

- Church authorities investigated Luther’s Ninety-five Theses. — Yes.
Local and higher church officials examined the charges (Archbishop Albert, university theologians, and later Rome). The matter was treated as a theological controversy and led to inquiries, summons, and eventual papal action.

- Church authorities complemented Luther’s Ninety-five Theses. — No (not officially).
Individual clergy may have agreed with some criticisms of abuses, but church authorities did not officially praise the Theses.

- Church authorities approved Luther’s Ninety-five Theses. — No.
The reaction grew progressively hostile; by 1520 Pope Leo X condemned key propositions in Exsurge Domine and in 1521 Luther was effectively declared outside the Church after the Diet of Worms.

- Church authorities encouraged academics to debate Luther’s Ninety-five Theses. — Yes (initially).
Early on the dispute was handled as an academic/theological matter and Luther was pressed to defend his points in disputations (e.g., leading to later debates such as Leipzig). Only later did the response become disciplinary and condemnatory.

Brief context: the Theses (1517) were first treated as an academic challenge to indulgence practice; their rapid print circulation gave them wide impact, prompting investigations and eventually formal papal condemnation and excommunication.