Are Lutherans the "adversaries" of Catholics, according to the Catholic Church? I have heard that in the 16th century Lutherans were referred to as &quot;adversaries&quot; by theologians like St. Robert Bellarmine. As far as I know, this goes against Church teaching. Lutherans are always said to be &quot;our fellow Christians&quot; by recent Popes.
Perhaps non-Catholics are always &quot;adversaries&quot; according to the Church?
According to the Church, are Lutherans the &quot;adversaries&quot; of Catholics?
Bellarmine wrote arguing the Catholic position and attempted to demonstrate that the Lutheran position, on a range of matters, was incorrect. He frequently did this along the lines of &quot;our adversaries argument is this, but I think they are mistaken because..&quot;.
In that contest &quot;adversaries&quot; means those on the other side of the question, those putting an alternative opinion.
He was not saying he regarded Lutherans as his enemies. There were no  unfriendly, pejorative, hostile or even impolite intent in referring to a person on the other side of a debate as an adversary.