Was the catholic church more powerful in the Renaissance than the middle ages?

Answer 1

The Roman Catholic Church had a great source of power and influence in the past. The Roman Catholic Church have the same amount of power and influence present today. Its power and influence today is greater than it was in the past, but that may also be in different ways then what it once held.

1. It owned land.

The Roman Catholic Church owned many large areas of farmland. People who grew crops on this land had to give one tenth of everything they grew to the

Roman Catholic Church. This was called the Tithe. This was a lot of crops for many poor people to lose.

2. It controlled people's beliefs.

The Roman Catholic Church told people that when they died, their souls lived on either in Heaven or in Hell. Hell, they said, was a place of great pain and suffering. The people were understandably frightened of going there. So, the Roman Catholic Church gave them hope. It said that after you die your soul

goes first to a place called Purgatory, where it would stay until any sins had been burnt away. The Papacy has recently stated that purgatory never existed,

and apologized for its mistake.

3. It was rich.

As you can imagine. People wanted to be in purgatory for the shortest possible time. The Roman Catholic Church said that you could shorten your stay in

purgatory if you did several things. These included:

• Attend Church and live a good life

• Go on a pilgrimage

• Monetary Tithes. The Roman Catholic Church also made money through a second form of Tithes in the form of money. In addition to providing a tenth of

any crops made, people were expected to give another tenth out of their income to The Roman Catholic Church.

• Buy a special pardon. These pardons were known as Indulgences. The Indulgences were sold out of special interests for the sake of the papacy, and

indirectly exploited those that bought them out of their money. These indulgences are now invalid since purgatory never existed at all. The Roman Catholic Church made a lot of money this way, as people - especially rich people - tried to buy their way to heaven.

4. It was not controlled by the King.

The Roman Catholic Church was under the Papacy's control and therefore was lead by the Pope. This meant that the King could not tell anyone from the

Roman Catholic Church what to do. Even if a Roman Catholic Churchman committed a crime, they could not be tried by a normal court, but instead were

tried by fellow Roman Catholic Churchmen.

5. Main Answer:

The Papacy of the Roman Catholic Church located in Vatican, Holy See which is located inside Rome, Italy. It is its own country governed by its own laws. It is the world's smallest nation, and occupy's a large portion of modern day Rome of about 600 sq. mi. A fair percent of this is still intact today especially in monetary assets, and in politics of the world as its own foreign power. For example it is a part of the United Nations, and has a high economic value within its small boarders thanks to its followers. Today it is far more powerful then it was in the Middle Ages. Although it is questionable more tamed in its disciplinary methods, and hopefully domesticated in its public practices.

The Roman Catholic Church remains by far the largest denomination in Christianity. It has a well disciplined clerical hierarchy, and demands respect and obedience from its followers. The Vatican, a tiny theological state representing the Roman Catholic Church, provides political and diplomatic power unavailable to other Christian Churches. The immense wealth of the Catholic Church can be used to promote its interests. The Vatican is a government itself. It is a political state of which every Roman Catholic becomes a member at the time of baptism. Their allegiance is to the Vatican of the Roman Catholic Church first, then to the country in which they were born. To this day The Roman Catholic Church has more power than any other singular society publicly known.

Example from History:

The Inquisition: Around 1232 CE, under the Papacy's order, the Roman Catholic Church started a new program. It was a court system called The Inquisition.

This court was staffed with the Roman Catholic Church officials who were supposed to seek out and punish people suspected of not obeying the Roman

Catholic Church.

Heresy is any act or action against the Roman Catholic Church or the Roman Catholic Church beliefs. A heretic is someone who commits an act of heresy.

The Roman Catholic Church officials assigned to the court of Inquisition were assigned the job of tracking down heretics. Once tracked down, if a heretic confessed, they were punished. Punishment was quite severe. Punishment ranged from loss of property, to imprisonment, to death. If a heretic did not confess, they were tortured until they did confess. There was no escape. According to the Roman Catholic Church, these punishments were necessary to save the souls of heretics.

It was an awful time. The court of Inquisition was open to great abuse.

The Power of the Roman Catholic Church: Examples of the power of the Roman Catholic Church includes the flow of wealth, the use of sacraments to control people and their lives, the use of the Roman Catholic Church councils, the Propaganda value of the religious beggars (friars), and finally, the horrible

cruelty of the Inquisition and the fear it generated.

Answer 2

In the Middle Ages the church ran European society. It began to lose control in the Renaissance.

In the Middle Ages people started to learn to read because of the printing press. Also, the influences of the Crusades and exploration brought in outside thinking and culture. To be able to control a society like the Catholic church did for a 1000 years it needs an uneducated society and no outside influences of thought or new ideas.

Answer 3

The Catholic Church was more powerful in some places during the Renaissance, and less powerful in others. The general inquisitions, which were introduced as the Middle Ages were ending and the Renaissance beginning, gave the Church broad powers of investigation and punishment in such places as Spain and Portugal. On the other hand, the Catholic Church lost all power in many places, including England and parts of Germany, as Protestant groups took over the churches.