Indulgences: The Principle Causes Of The Reformation

The principle causes of the Reformation were the collapse of the church’s bureaucracy and the widespread criticism of the church’s practices, specifically the sale of indulgences. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the church became increasingly more bureaucratic, including the creation of papal courts, legislation, and organization of power, however as the internal church structure was beginning to break down, many of the hypocrisies and problems of the church were exposed. The issues started with complaints about Bishops and clergy members. Due to the long entrenched benefice system, clergy positions were sold to highest bidder, leading to spiritually ill equipped and corrupt clergy members. Moreover, many of the clergy didn’t live in

Furthermore, parishioners complaints included reports of the clergy’s corrupt administrations, concubinage and financial greed. In addition to the problems of the institutional bureaucracy, there were also theological criticisms of the church surrounding the sale of indulgences. Indulgences were seen as an example of greed and materialism within the church. Martin Luther’s 95 theses would later accuse the church of using Indulgences to sell salvation to its followers. Some of the most outspoken critics of indulgences were the Germans who called for a shift back to religious piety and purity. Many of these critiques would become disciples of early church critics such as the Waldensians, Beguines, Lollards, Hussites created precedent for questioning the sale of Indulgences, which would become a springboard for reformation

The success of the Counter-Reformation can be seen by the Council of Trent and the Jesuits. The Council of Trent was a council called by Pope Paul III, who, attempting to stabilize the religious and political turmoil, called together the general church council. Pope Paul III appointed the liberal theologian, Caspar Contarini, reform chairman. Despite the many suggestions and criticisms addressed in the report compiled by Contarini, the Council of Trent made mostly cosmetic institutional reforms. The Council agreed to curb the sale of church offices and other religious goods, force bishops to leave Rome and live in the dioceses over which they presided, create new rules for clergy and bishops about being highly visible and conducting more masses, required that bishops make annual visits to their parishes and called for seminaries in each diocese. These new reforms strengthened bishops control over religious practices in their dioceses. The Council did not, however, make any theological concessions to the Protestants. In addition to the Council of Trent, the Counter-Reformation was also aided by the founding of the Jesuits. After recovering from an injury sustained in battle, Ignatius of Loyola created Spiritual Exercises, a devotional guide which included mental and emotional exercises