If the Reformation had never happened, if Martin Luther had never nailed his 95 theses to the door in Wittenberg, if Calvinism, Lutheranism, Anglicanism had never been created what would our world be like today ? This is an interesting alternate reality that we will never know. The reformation was not the work of a single rebel deciding the Church had gone too far. It was not a single act of the Church going too far. It was a culmination that had been building for centuries of the laity’s festering anger and doubt at the clergy’s unbridled depravity. The Church needed reform because the Church was corrupt, immoral and politically driven.
The corruption of the Catholic Church was present on every level of the organization in every possible from. The corruption of the Church was very apparent in the sexual activities of the clergy and the rampant nepotism present in the Vatican. The Pope that truly exemplifies both of these common and widespread activities. This Pope had three children with Vanozza dei Cattanai and …show more content…
As impossible as it is today to imagine Pope Francis as a lecherous secular ruler, such was the role of the Holy Father for a significant portion of Catholic history. The Pope ruled over several states in Italy since the 4th century until the 19th century. Often in this time period, particularly the 14th century, the Holy Father was much more concerned with the papal states than with his religious dominion. The rulers of this secular dominion were chosen based on their social class rather than for their religious character. This selection criteria thus resulted in Popes who while maybe adequate or even good secular rulers of the papal states were horrific moral examples for all Catholics. A prime example of adequate secular ruler but horrible religious leader was Pope Julius II, the warrior