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The Church Fails To Reform Itself in Time

The Church failed to reform itself in time to prevent the Protestant Reformation from occurring. Corruption was rampant within the Catholic Church leadership, with simony being at the heart of the curial system. Several popes from the 15th century were mired in corruption, focusing more on Italian politics than spiritual matters. Attempts at reform through councils and encyclicals failed to curb the abuses or enact meaningful change from the top levels of the Church hierarchy. As a result, reform efforts began from the grassroots level among the laity and local clergy, though true reform would have required changes at the highest levels of the papacy, which did not happen until the Second Vatican Council.

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Patrizia Ann Feliciano
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271 views

The Church Fails To Reform Itself in Time

The Church failed to reform itself in time to prevent the Protestant Reformation from occurring. Corruption was rampant within the Catholic Church leadership, with simony being at the heart of the curial system. Several popes from the 15th century were mired in corruption, focusing more on Italian politics than spiritual matters. Attempts at reform through councils and encyclicals failed to curb the abuses or enact meaningful change from the top levels of the Church hierarchy. As a result, reform efforts began from the grassroots level among the laity and local clergy, though true reform would have required changes at the highest levels of the papacy, which did not happen until the Second Vatican Council.

Uploaded by

Patrizia Ann Feliciano
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Church Fails to Reform Itself in Time

Here the great Schism was over although the spiritual effects were still
dominant
There were still signs of disorganization
Simony was the heart of the curial system as it functioned before
Luther
During the 15th century the Curias cruelty was a persistent subject of
reform
o All the evils of the Church were attributed to it.
o The members of the Church were sick because the head was
sick.
Simony was alleged to be the origin of the sickness
2000 marketable Church lobs which were sold at the Vatican happened
during the time of Leo X
The Popes gained power over a large number of ecclesiastical
appointments which was a way of enhancing the income of the
Churchmen due to the high rise of inflation in the 15th century
A greatly needed reform for church was handled by the of council of
the churchs methods
The papal reform council failed to emerge due to the papacy itself
known as Renaissance Papacy (A time when popes were more
focused on Italian politics rather than the needs of the universal church
There was a decline for such popes which stumbled in corruption:
o Sixtus (d. 1484)
o Innocent VIII (d. 1492)
o Alexander VI(d. 1503)
Pope Pius II committed to the reform and came up with an encyclical
that bounded the pope himself to certain procedures in the
government of the Church but due to his death it was not pursued
Julius II called the last try for papal reform at the Lateran Council
which criticized the ignorance of clergy, papal absorption in politics,
and bureaucratic centralization (Bokenkotter, 181-182)
Laity Christian Humanists organized and became dedicated to
reforming the Church by means of education
o Personal Sanctification
o Works of Charity
o Apostolic activity
Individual Christian-laymen and Priests issued reform in various ways
even before the reformation of Luther

The people of Europe continued to be persistent towards their faith in


God despite Avignon papacy and the corruption of the papal court at
Rome
Reforms started from grassroots that began with the laity
A reform of the church would only succeed if it reached the top and
grabbed hold of the papacy itself yet this did not happen until the
Second Vatican Council

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