The Protestant Reformation's Role In Branching Out From The Catholic Church

The Protestant Reformation’s Role in Branching Out from the Catholic Church

Before the fifteenth century, the Roman Catholic Church was the dominant and universal religion in Europe. Today, there are a handful of Protestant Churches that would not have existed if it weren’t for the challenging ideas of a few individuals during the fifteenth century and beyond. The church underwent what is known today as the Protestant Reformation, which challenged its powerful authority and criticized its credibility. Life before the Protestant Reformation was governed by the medieval Catholic Church through corruption and questionable practices, which a few individuals sought to rectify. There are three key points when examining how the Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation is one of the most important events in world history, as it can be traced back as a landmark for some of the practices that are known today.
While the Protestant Reformation did not begin with the Augustinian monk Martin Luther, he did make a major stride towards bringing up an argument against the Catholic Church. Luther’s most notable questioning of the Catholic Church began with their practice of selling indulgences to obtain the financial ability to build great architecture. The practice of indulgences was a way to ensure a soul would leave Purgatory and make it to heaven. Luther’s great opposition to this practice inspired him to draft the Ninety-Five Theses, which was a document that "became a manifesto that turned a protest about an indulgence scandal into the greatest crisis in the history of the Western Christian church" (Britannica 2023). The translation of the Ninety-Five Theses and its

Pope Paul III called a religious meeting of the Catholic Church to attempt to reform or retaliate against the protestants. This meeting, known as the Council of Trent, affirmed the religious doctrines they had previously upheld before the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic Church now targeted Protestants as heretics and continued many corrupt practices, such as indulgences. Despite not compromising with the protestants, the Catholic Church changed some of the organizational methods that had been in practice, such as "the authority of bishops came from the pope, the successor of Peter, chosen by Christ to be the rock on which he builds his Church, rather than that every bishop was a direct representative of Christ’s authority" (MacCulloch 957). The Catholic Church also had help from an individual who sought to uphold its teachings and to continue to be loyal. This individual was Ignatius of Loyola, who is known to be the founder of the Jesuits. Loyola sought to better the Catholic Faith through the Jesuits and served as a revitalization. Loyola founded a union within the Catholic Faith by making improvements that allowed for a more virtuous religion. The Jesuits were not the only denomination to arise from the Reformation era, because the Roman Catholic Church