Was the Catholic Church healthy in 1500?

Answer 1

There were a lot of problems in the Church by the end of the fifteenth century, the Church had just lived through the Western Schism where there had been more than one claimant to the papal tiara, and Europe was split over which "pope" to support. There was a growing spiritual "coldness" in people's spiritual life which coincided with the rise of mercantilism and the rising business class, who were separating their business life from their spiritual life, and compartmentalizing life. There was also the rising threat of Islam into Europe. People were no longer as spiritual and devote, their lives were being separated from their faith.

from What Every Catholic Wants to Know Catholic History from the Catacombs to the Reformation, by Diane Moczar, c 2006 by Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division

The five key elements that made up the "medieval synthesis" were:

- The harmony between Faith and reason.

- The balance of power among nation-states as parts of Christendom

- The balancing of the authority of the king with local self-government.

- The harmony between the goals of individual self-fulfillment and those of society.

- The equilibrium - and an uneasy one, it is true - between Church and state.

In the fourteenth century everything started to fall apart beginning with famine and plague. Cold, wet weather between 1315 and 1322 brought ruined crops in northern Europe and the resulting famine produced mass starvation, the mortality rate was as high as ten percent. But within 25-20 years the Black Death struck Europe. Between 1347-1350 an estimate average of thirty percent of the population on the continent died. In some cases, the death toll was much higher. It returned again in 1363 and would recur periodically for the next three centuries. All of this caused social friction and rebellions, not to mention some bizarre heresies. In addition to all of this the Hundred Years's War began, the Ottoman Turks began their onslaught of Europe, and the Papacy was going through many troubles beginning with the Avignon papacy. All of this set the stage, so to speak for the protestant catastrophe.