Roman Catholic Church Corruption Essay

In the 1300s, the Roman Catholic Church reached their zenith as Roman Catholicism was the most popular religion in Western Europe at the time. While it was at its peak, the papacy maintained most of the power amongst the citizens. Even though the Papacy held a large amount of influence during this time, they were set in their own ways and were unwilling to reform their systems. Protestantism was a revolt against the Medieval position of the Roman Catholic clergy. This led to the corruption of the papacy as they were out of touch with their people and giving in to their own greed.
During this time, Pope Boniface VIII was selling indulgences to people in exchange for clearing their sins and guaranteeing them a place in heaven. However, these indulgences went toward building a cathedral and other interests decided by the clergy. Exploiting the citizens for money by using the promise of a better afterlife was an awful thing to do, and Martin Luther used this as an example when he discussed the things that were wrong …show more content…
For example, when the Black Plague broke out there was mass hysteria spreading throughout Europe with little to no leadership. It was believed that the Plague was a punishment brought upon them by God, and when they were unable to find any faith that their lord would save them they turned to Satanism. While this was not entirely the fault of the church, they certainly faced the backlash as more and more people began practicing witchcraft in place of faith. In 1380, John Wycliffe became more prominent through his teachings at Oxford University. He shared the same beliefs as Martin Luther in the sense that the Bible should be written in vernacular. At the time, the Bible was only accessible to those who spoke Greek. This unavailability was one of the ways the Catholic church was unwilling to