Corruption In The Catholic Church

The Catholic Church during the early 16th Century was rooted throughout Europe. The Church influenced every country and its respective monarchs through the Church’s wealth and power. The Catholic Church placed a tight hold on the general populace with individuals who went against the Church being branded as heretics and excommunicated. The wealth and power of the Church eventually caused the quality of the clergy to deteriorate. Priests became corrupt and subjected to their physical desires. They frequented taverns, gambled and kept mistresses. The reputation of the clergy were horrid as the general populace was relieved that “their priest [kept] a mistress” because it “[secured] their wives from seduction” The knowledge of the clergy degenerated as well as they were no longer required to learn and teach the Holy Scriptures because the Church dictated their actions. The pinnacle of the Church’s corruption was the sale of indulgences. An indulgence was the “extra-sacramental remission of the temporal punishment” sold by priests as a temporary relief from sins. The indulgences were then sold to the general populace for money as the monetization of a priest’s services. Johannes Tetzel was a prominent preacher of indulgences who relied on the money from the sales to subsidize the rebuilding of St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. The corrupt sales did not go unnoticed as Martin Luther, in an effort to stop the corruption of the Church, posted the 95 Theses on the door of a Castle

In this period, the Roman empire was a big influence on the medieval society of Europe and was important. The Roman catholic church also was a huge role in the upcoming of Europe and the church then had more power than churches today have. In Medieval Europe, the church was leading their peoples lives, and ruled over ninety percent of the land. The Church also was a big impact in Medieval Europe’s religion and society. The church was so powerful and sometimes wrong, Saint Augustine states in his book, “Even during this period at Rome I was associated with those false and deceiving saints” (Confessions, 84). The Church was so great that it ran medieval Europe and forced their power onto the society, even when all their uses of power were sometimes wrong. The church held most the wealth in this period, they had this because they demanded ten percent of their people’s income. One reason why the church was so

Towards the end of the Middle Ages and into the duration of the Renaissance, the Medieval Church’s social and political power dwindled. Centuries prior the Catholic Church gained a surplus of control, largely due to the stability it maintained during the chaotic breakdown of the Western Roman Empire . Yet toward the end of the Middle Ages the Church set in motion factors that would ultimately lead to its downfall as the definitive figure of authority. However, despite political and social controversy surrounding the church, the institutions it established cleared a path for a new way of thinking, shaping society in an enduring way.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, there was no main dominating force in Europe to enforce laws and protection for the people. The Middle Ages had begun and without the Romans, life became centered around survival. The destabilization caused rates of illiteracy, disease, and deaths to rise dramatically and to remedy the average peasants worry, the feudalism system flourished and required work in exchange for the safety of manors. Yet while there was not a overlooking empire to look towards for authority, the Catholic Church served its role to bring all classes together (Document 6). The Middle Ages will be ultimately known as an age of faith because of the prevalence of violence, power of religion, and the Catholic Church’s preservation of knowledge.

Corruption in the Catholic Church was real; the Church has always had a strong present in Mexico since the beginnings. For instance, those in the strong circle of the Church who are not part of the clergy have always been men of power who hold swayed over the government. They have passed laws that benefit the Church, such as the example I pointed out before of Title 1. Precisely, for this reason, was why the Mexican liberals hated the clergy. The main problem and reason why the anti-clerical liberals wanted to remove the clergy in Government was “Fueros”, which means corporate immunities. For the Church, corporate immunities meant that if there was a transgression in the clerical power they were subjected to a different form of justice than the Mexican people. The Liberals saw it as the highest form a corruption because basically those part of the clergy circle who were men of power could get away with corruption. Laws like the example that was given were what ultimately what triggered the anti-clerical liberals to fight back, and that is why by 1861 when Benito Juarez re-established the Mexican government. Once Benito Juarez establishes the Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857, the Catholic Church was slowly starting to lose the control it had over the Government.

Simony (the selling of Church offices) and partiality based on family relationships were out of control. Clearly, if the Pope was concentrating on these worldly issues, there wasn't as much of any time left for caring for the souls of the faithful. The corruption of the Church was well known, and several attempts had

We can see that the whole church was guilty of greed and took advantage of people. The church forced the commoners to attend weekly services. When attending these services the speakers would threaten peasants into believing they would experience horrible things in hell if they stopped donating and volunteering for the church. Priest would preach that failing to donate a weekly sum would mean your soul was going to hell. (Trueman) This intimidated peasants into giving the church most of what they had , even if that meant they were going to starve that day. The authority of the church had these commoners do anything they wanted, including making them donate money , seeds, or grain. The amount of greed the church had was unbelievable, they would store the donated grain in warehouses and just keep it there without use. Rats would end up eating most of it or poisoning it with their urine, making the grain inedible or worthless.

Why is the Catholic Church so corrupt in its teaching? They have found ways to control the knowledge that their followers contemplate on. The control of knowledge and power is the foundation for every successful religious organization. The Catholic Church have acquired this power through strategic control on the mind of its follower. The Catholic Church propagate their ideals as righteous in order to be accepted; for without this acceptance, they are faced with the task of initiating this power through force. So to beguile their followers, they present themselves in “sheep clothing” (KJV, Matt 7:15). They are accepted as blameless, peaceful, loving and harmless but in actuality, “they are ravening wolves” (KJV, Matt. 7:15).

The use of these indulgences minimizes the penance required after a sin has been forgiven, moreover, it reduces the amount of time one has to spend in temporal punishment after death, commonly known as Purgatory. By the late Middle Ages, the abuse of indulgences by those in power in the Church, mainly through commercialization, had become a serious problem which the Church recognized but was unable and unwilling to restrain effectively. Those in authority took the money that was acquired from these indulgences and used them for their own personal pleasure which showed how corrupt even religious leaders could become. Corruption ran rampant in the church, consequently, causing the now inescapable Protestant Reformation. This was an example of corruption because the church greatly misused the money for themselves that they received from Christians purchase of

“Yet do not miss the moral, my good men. For Saint Paul says that all that’s written well Is written down some useful truth to tell.” (canterbury tales) Throughout the middle ages the church became more and more corrupt through four most leading issues. One betrays the main problems that caused the church to become corrupt. Two very significant perpetrators within the church that was a part of causing the downfall. Three many evil practices that led to corruptness in the people furthermore making the church itself become a sinnful place. Lastly, number four, Strong protestors, being the problems in and of themselves in the wrong they protested about. This resulted in problems: the black plague, perpetrators: those who were corrupt each in

greed when the church was built and dressed so lavishly. There were rumors of corrupt

The Roman Catholic Church during The Middle Ages was very powerful and persuasive as well as the clergy who worked for the church. To increase their power, High-ranking, powerful clergy charged people for different outcomes in heaven or in the afterlife. They charged them through the common practice of simony, "Simony was the sinful practice of giving or obtaining an appointment to a church office for money."(Arnold, Jack L). Overtime, the public eventually realized that church officials were using their currency to support their luxurious lifestyles. Simony was a way for the church to gain power as well as money to support their lavish lifestyles which the public did not support. The church practiced simony through the selling of indulgences. Indulgences are the reduction of punishment in hell for yourself and/or your family members. The church allowed you to buy out family members who had passed away and were currently suffering in purgatory. The church advertised indulgences because it was "The most profitable and controversial of the corrupt practices used to raise money for the church"(Gbenga, Zaccheaus). The public at the time approved the selling of indulgences and promoted it before they realized the corrupt use through indulgences. Soon people all over Europe were purchasing indulgences and were spreading the word about it. The continuous sales of indulgences increased the church's wealth and power significantly. However, over time the community began to compare their lifestyles to those who worked for the church change . They eventually realized that church officials were using their currency from the sales of indulgences to

Schoenherr and Lawrence A. Young. In this work, the authors contended that the diminishing size of priest population is a major problem for today’s church. With compelling demographic statistics derived from official sources and tabulated with meticulous care, they demonstrated that priest shortage, in interaction with other social preconditions for structural transformation, is modifying the internal political economy of the Catholic Church.

The relationship between the Church and the State is a controversial topic that sparks great political discourse. Since the period of the Great Reformation in Europe to the contemporary religious and political establishments, suspicion and dishonesty continue to define the relationship between the Church and political leadership in the society. On one hand, the Church maintains its moral duty: to oppose and stand against any form of excessive use of political power, to cause suffering and create inequality in the society. On the other hand, the State accuses the Church of moral high-headedness and accuses it of using its position and influence in the society to breed disloyalty in the masses towards their political leaders. These scenarios