It is clear that between 1540 & 1559 that the Catholic Church became increasingly intolerant of debasement and dissent. This is mostly due to the leaders that came to the papal throne within this period. Between 1540 & 1559 there was a variety of pope’s with very differing views on how to contend with the issues of Protestantism, debasement and dissent. The pope of 1540 was Pope Paul III, and was the most contemporary Pope of the time, with strong views towards Catholic Reform. Having taken over from Pope Clement III in 1534, he was fairly experienced in the position of Pope. However, even with this six-year experience, Pope Paul III was highly reluctant to act over the problem of Protestantism, so the level of tolerance over debasement and dissent was fairly high. I feel he partly didn’t act because he hoped the situation would resolve itself, and partly because he naively felt that Catholicism would remain the dominating power. Due to Pope Paul III being under pressure from the emperor to act, he called a Concilium, which overall was ineffective at dealing with the debasement and dissent situation, but at least attempted to try and regain control of the situation. Although Pope Paul III was intolerant of debasement and dissent, the actions he took to try and prevent it were ineffective and so the issue of debasement and dissent remained quite unscathed. In 1549 Pope Paul III died, which enabled Julius III to assume the role as Pope. He was greatly influenced by Charles V, who was a key power within Europe. Due to Charles V’s influence, Julius decided to recall the Council of Trent, in 1549, which had been dissolved previously in 1548 as a result of Pope Paul III’s failings. However, similarly to in Pope Paul III’s reign, ... ... middle of paper ... ...sition to reform as Pope Paul III, but again the changes he wished to implement during his papal reign were not entirely popular. Pope Paul III and Pope Julius III had a less forceful nature then Caraffa, so when he was provided with the role of Pope, he did not hesitate to take action upon the issue of debasement and dissent which he had been intolerant of for so many years, but had not capabilities to act against. However, I also felt that the social spread of Protestantism ensured the increasing intolerance of debasement and dissent, as well as Caraffa’s uncompromising attitude, Had Protestantism not spread into Italy, I don’t think there would have been as drastic a need for action against debasement and dissent, although because Caraffa had such an uncompromising nature he did would probably have still felt there was a vital change demanded of the situation.
Elected in 1958 as a ‘caretaker Pope’, Pope John XXIII implemented the greatest reforms in the Church’s history. His involvement within the Church had played a significant contribution to the reforming of social, political and liturgical Christian traditions. During the early twentieth century, the Catholic Church still held the century old conservative beliefs and traditions as they continued to separate the Church from the secular world, therefore, disadvantaging the Church to a world that was modernising. In addition to this, the Church restricted modernist thoughts due to the belief that new theologies would threaten the power and authority of the Church, but ...
The Act of Supremacy 1559 arguably was a key turning point in the relationship between Church and State in the 16th century because most of the changes it introduced were permanent. However, it could be said that it was not the only factor which contributed to the changing relations as the Act of Supremacy 1534, the role of key individuals and the changes under Edwards reigns played a significant role. This implies that the changing relationship between the Church and state in the 16th century was not a consequence of Act of Supremacy 1559 but all of them together.
What happens when people start to break away from the entity that bound an entire civilization together for over a thousand years? How does one go from unparalleled devotion to God to the exploration of what man could do? From absolute acceptance to intense scrutiny? Sheeple to independent thinkers? Like all revolutions preceding it, the Protestant Reformation did not happen overnight. Catholics had begun to lose faith in the once infallible Church ever since the Great Schism, when there were two popes, each declaring that the other was the antichrist. Two things in particular can be identified as the final catalyst: a new philosophy and simple disgust. The expanding influence of humanism and the corruption of the Catholic Church led to the Protestant Reformation, which in turn launched the Catholic Reformation and religious warfare.
In the 1500’s the church of England had become corrupted. The pope was abusing his power and the people had to pay for it. The Pope had political power like control over armies and could wage war as well. Simony and nepotism were a common occurrence. In this time, religion was so huge, and so was the power behind it. The Pope singlehandedly had all of it, and used that to make the impact on Europe that he did. Perhaps one of the most controversial things Pope Leo X had done was sell indulgences. Indulgences were a trade off common people would make with the Pope, donations to the church for less time in
Though Germany demanded a general council following the excommunication of the German Reformation leader Martin Luther Pope Clement VII held back for fear of renewed attacks on his supremacy. France, too, preferred inaction, afraid of increasing German power. Clement's successor, Paul III, however, was convinced that Christian unity and effective church reform could come only through a council. After his first attempts were frustrated, he convoked a council at Trent (northern Italy), which opened on Dec. 13, 1545.which established the foundations of the Counter Reformation.
Theological Context." Reformation & Renaissance Review: Journal of The Society For Reformation Studies 7, no. 2/3: 337-346. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 24, 2014).
This caused a lot of deaths during the Reformation period because the Catholic church decided to prosecute people for following and listening to what Luther had taught them about the real Catholic Teachings. The Council of Trent was a way to stop the teachings of Catholic traditions and state clearly the renewal of the Catholic life. The work of the council was concerned with the organisation of the Church. A seminary was going to be set up for the education of priests in each diocese. During the reformation a Catechism which is a clear summary of Catholic beliefs was set out to help reform the order of Mass throughout the Catholic world which priests then helped educate and teach this understanding to Catholics. Indulgence selling was abolished which means that it was no longer a way for the Church to scavenge money and the infamous Inquisition was
At the beginning of the sixteenth century church theologian, Martin Luther, wrote the 95 Theses questioning the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. In this essay I will discuss: the practices of the Roman Catholic Church Martin Luther wanted to reform, what Martin’s specific criticism of the pope was, and the current practices Pope Francis I is interested in refining in the Roman Catholic Church today.
In the Medieval times, the Roman Catholic Church played a great role in the development of England and had much more power than the Church of today does. In Medieval England, the Roman Catholic Church dominated everyday life and controlled everyone whether it is knights, peasants or kings. The Church was one of the most influential institutions in all of Medieval England and played a large role in education and religion. The Church's power was so great that they could order and control knights and sends them to battle whenever they wished to. The Church also had the power to influence the decision of Kings and could stop or pass laws which benefited them in the long run, adding to this, the Church had most of the wealth in Europe as the Church demanded a Tithe from all the common life which meant that they had to pay 10 percent of their income to the Church. The Church controlled all the of the beliefs and religion of the Church as they were the only ones who could read or write Latin and as such could decipher the Bible and scriptures which gave them all the power to be the mouth of God. The Legacy of the power and the influence of the Church can still be found, even today in modern times.
Twin themes occurred in Roman history known as renovatio imperrii and renovatio Romae that brought about much change and the popes throughout this period of time made sure they were a part of the changes being brought about. During this time we see papal propaganda beginning to take place while the popes such as Julius II, Leo X, Paul III, Sixtus V, and Paul V try to exhibit their power.
From the Middle ages, the church faced many problems such as the Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism that hurt the prestige of the church. Most of the clergy lived in great luxury while most people were poor and they set an immoral example. The clergy had low education and many of them didn’t attend their offices. Martin Luther had witnessed this himself, “In 1510 he visited Rome and was shocked to find corruption on high ecclesiastical places”
Before the 16th century Protestant Reformation, Christianity it Europe was in a questionable and somewhat corrupt state. During the mid 15th century central and western Europe was set up in the form of a hierarchy, which was headed by the pope. At this period in time the pope claimed all spiritual authority over Christians, as well as political authority over all inhabitants of the Papal States. In addition to the claims the pope made, the church also owned close to one-fourth of the land in Europe that lead to a strong centralization of papal authority. Close to all of the Europeans at this time were Christian and would pay taxes directly to the church as a result of this ownership. European Christians were taught in their upbringing that without the guidance and rituals of the priests and the church, there would be no path for them to salvation. Despite the church attempting to teach morality among members, the clergy started to become greedy and full of corruption that fueled their desire for ...
Europe was pained and scandalized, while the papal abuses, especially of taxation, were augmented, not least because two courts (each with its own college of cardinals) now had to be maintained. Above all, the profound feeling that the church must be visibly one was offended. The papacy sank enormously in popular regard. In Rome, Urban VI was succeeded by Boniface IX (1389–1404), and he by Innocent VII (1404–1406), who was followed by Gregory XII (1406–1415). In Avignon, Clement VII was followed by a Spaniard, Pedro de Luna, who took the name Benedict XIII (1394–1417). The Great Schism lasted for almost forty years. It was compounded by the creation of yet a third line of popes at the ill-fated Council of Pisa in 1409; and it was not resolved until the Council of Constance (1414–1418) asserted its jurisdictional supremacy within the church and deposed, or induced to resign, the three competing popes, Gregory XII, Benedict XIII, and John XXIII. In November 1417, the cardinals, together with six representatives from each nation, elected a Roman cardinal, Oddo Colonna, as pope. He took the name Martin V (1417–1431). Roman Christendom once more had a single head. The council ended in April 1418, the new pope promising to call another in five years, in compliance with the council’s other famous decree, Frequens (October 9,1417). The first of the Renaissance popes was Nicholas V (1447–1455), who founded the Vatican library and developed ambitious schemes for rebuilding Rome. The next pope, Alfonso Borgia, a Spaniard, who took the name Calixtus III (1455–1458), was no friend of humanism and was earnestly, though fruitlessly, intent on a crusade to drive the Turks from the recently conquered Constantinople. A most remarkable occupant of the papacy was Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, who ruled as Pius II (1458–1464). In early life a supporter of the conciliar movement, and active at the Council of Basel, he had won renown as a humanist writer of
Through out the course of human history, there are things that occur that cause change. Change that incites a movement, change that causes people to rise up, change that lights a fire to the deepest part of the human soul. But as we all know, to any effect there has to be something that caused that cause. Throughout history there have been many events that have occurred that have shaped the way we view our lives, but the impact the people at the period must have felt would be monumental. There is a period in history that incited much change in our world and that is the time period that we have come to know as the Catholic Counter-Reformation. This period of time prior to the Thirty Year’s War was a direct effect of the Protestant Reformation and was a revival of sorts of Roman Catholicism and a huge reform movement from within the Church’s foundation in Rome that spread throughout all of Europe. This impact is one that would ripple throughout the ages, one that would change the course of the Roman Catholic Church’s history.
Perhaps no other event was as influential to the rise of papacy in Rome as the decline of the Roman empire. With the decline of the empire, the church became the last refuge of stability. Without the protection of the empire, Rome was subject to poverty, disrepair, and attack from enemies.1 The rise of the papacy was a response to this situation. It was further cemented by the leadership of such men as Leo I and Gregory I, the latter sometimes referred to as the father of the medieval papacy.2 Finally, the granting of lands and authority to the bishop of Rome greatly increased the power of the Roman church.3