On the 15th of June 1520, more than two and a half years after Luther had published his 95 Theses, the Pope, aided by a panel of experts, issued a 41 point Papal bull of denouncement against Luther. The Bull, titled Exsurge Domine (Arise O Lord) was meant to condemn Luther in sweeping terms and place him firmly in the category of a dangerous heretic.
As a heretic, Luther was given 60 days following the issuance of Exsurge Domine to respond by renouncing his heresies. During this period of probation Luther's books were to be burned by order of the Pope. He was invited to recant either in an openly published document which had to be notarized by two bishops or alternately he had the option of arriving in Rome within 120 days of the Bull's issuance in order to recant in person. If Luther failed to do either of these things he would be excommunicated.
The prescribed time limits were untenable since it took more than 60 days for the Bull to even reach Luther. It finally got to Wittenberg in October of 1520, in the hands of a smug and somewhat triumphant Dr. Eck and Jerome Aleander, an up-and-coming Catholic scholar and director of the Palatine Library.