What are four complaints people had about the Catholic Church before the Reformation?

Answer 1

A:

1. Simony

   Often involving the sale of church offices and of indulgences, this precipitated the Reformation.

2. Nepotism

   This involved granting church positions to the illegitimate children of bishops, cardinals and popes.

3. Sexual abuse, especially solicitation in the confessional and child abuse.

   Brundage ('Law, Sex and Christian Society', cited by Doyle, Sipe and Wall in 'Sex, Priests and Secret Codes', says that "the sexual habits of the Roman Catholic clergy, according to reformers, were a sewer of iniquity, a scandal to the laity, and a threat of damnation to the clergy themselves."

Catholic Answer

The two main abuses that led to the protestant revolt (known as the reformation to protestants and secular scholars) were: 1) "the odious greed for money manifested by the Roman Curia", and 2) the appalling ignorance of the clergy, even those teaching the clergy. Pope Leo X was the perfect example of the former and Martin Luther the perfect example of the later.

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from the Catholic Encyclopedia article on Pope Leo X

The most important occurrence of Leo's pontificate and that of gravest consequence to the Church was the Reformation, which began in 1517. We cannot enter into a minute account of this movement, the remote cause of which lay in the religious, political, and social conditions of Germany. It is certain, however, that the seeds of discontent amid which Luther threw his firebrand had been germinating for centuries. The immediate cause was bound up with the odious greed for money displayed by the Roman Curia, and shows how far short all efforts at reform had hitherto fallen. Albert of Brandenburg, already Archbishop of Magdeburg, received in addition the Archbishopric of Mainz and the Bishopric of Hallerstadt, but in return was obliged to collect 10,000 ducats, which he was taxed over and above the usual confirmation fees. To indemnify him, and to make it possible to discharge these obligations Rome permitted him to have preached in his territory the plenary indulgence promised all those who contributed to the new St. Peter's; he was allowed to keep one half the returns, a transaction which brought dishonour on all concerned in it. Added to this, abuses occurred during the preaching of the Indulgence. The money contributions, a mere accessory, were frequently the chief object, and the "Indulgences for the Dead" became a vehicle of inadmissible teachings. That Leo X, in the most serious of all the crises which threatened the Church, should fail to prove the proper guide for her, is clear enough from what has been related above. He recognized neither the gravity of the situation nor the underlying causes of the revolt. Vigorous measures of reform might have proved an efficacious antidote, but the pope was deeply entangled in political affairs and allowed the imperial election to overshadow the revolt of Luther; moreover, he gave himself up unrestrainedly to his pleasures and failed to grasp fully the duties of his high office.

Answer 2

Anther Answer from our community:

There were no "things" corrupt in the Catholic Church, ever. Our Blessed Lord promised to send the Holy Spirit to guide the Church until the end of the world. The Church, Itself, is the Mystical Body of Our Blessed Lord, and therefore not corruptible. The only things that were corrupt in the Church were people; the Church, from the beginning, has been made up of sinners, and thus some of them tend to be corrupt.

Answer 3

There were many problems. To name a few, there was:

1.A licentious and greedy priesthood

2.A denial of scripture as the highest authority

3.Several aberrant doctrines concerning justification, The Lord's Supper, Absolution, purgatory, the papacy, and many others.

4. And there was the one that really got Martin Luther angry; Indulgences. Basically, the Pope wanted to build what is now called "Saint Peter's Basilica". So to raise the money, He borrowed the it from several princes/magistrates/Lords etc and in return, they were granted authority to sell "Indulgences" which allowed for absolution from sin, even without genuine repentance (Repentance and contrition were required, but only in theory). Soon, a man named Johann Tetzel started selling indulgences that would not only take dead relatives out of purgatory (for a price), but could also "buy" a reserved seat in heaven for you or anyone else (once again, for a price).

If you want to find the root of all these errors (as well as MANY more), it all started with the slow, but gradual denial of The Bible as supremely authoritative, even above the church.

Roman Catholic AnswerThe Church was not abusing its authority prior to the protestant revolt, although there were some very real problems here and there. The vast majority of Martin Luther's problems with the Catholic Church were problems of his own making, and refusing to listen to Church authorities who were trying to help him. Most of his problems were personal and, unable to deal with them, or not wanting to, he lashed out at the Church. He wouldn't have gotten very far were it not for some greedy rulers who saw their opportunity to quit supporting the Church. Luther's insistence on "the Bible Alone" necessitated him re-writing Scripture and putting words in, as the only time "faith alone" occurs in the Bible is in the book of James with, unfortunately for M. Luther the word NOT in front of it. St. James 2:24 - "Do you see that by works a man is justified; and not by faith alone." The two other areas that M. Luther claimed that the Church was "abusing Its power" were indulgences and "sola Scriptura". Again, unfortunately for M. Luther, the Bible was written by the Church a century after Our Blessed Lord ascended into heaven, it was assembled by the church in the fourth and fifth centuries, and it is only with the Church as its guarantor that it still exists to this day. Our Blessed Lord sanctioned the extra-biblical tradition of "Moses' Seat", and He established the Church, and the papacy on St. Peter (St. Matthew 16:16-19), and, of course, the very notion of "sola Scriptura" would require that it be found IN the Bible, which it isn't, although the binding authority of the Church and Tradition are found numerous times. Finally, indulgences are perfectly legitimate applications of the merits of the saints, have always been and are still published in the modern day. In short, the only one abusing anything was Martin Luther abusing everyone's intelligence in the Church, and not the Church abusing Its power - and Its only power is that of Our Blessed Lord.

Answer 4

Luther alone counted over 90 of them, many of a fairly theological nature. Later there was the Inquisition. Especially in Spain, many people convicted of heresy by the Inquisition were burned alive.

Fairly recent and notorious abuses have been the widespread sexual abuse by priest and nuns of children under their care; the fact that this almost always was covered up by the Catholic Church; that priests even if repeatedly found guilty of abuse and rape by their Bishops, were rarely punished by the Church or removed from the clergy, but were simply transferred to another parish where they usually could freely continue their practices.

The Catholic Church only cleaned up its act after a worldwide outcry over this and only the current Pope Francis, some 10 years after the story first broke, spoke out clearly against what had happened.

Answer 5

Roman Catholic AnswerFor the most part "people" in general had no complaints about the Church before the reformation. There were only a few who actually had complaints - Martin Luther for one, Henry VIII for another. The sad thing is that they, and in Luther's case the German rulers who latched onto his complaints for political purposes forced the people to give up what they actually loved for their (the leaders) own purposes; in King Henry's case, he forced his people, very much against their will. Below is a link to Martin Luther's infamous 95 Theses which are a resounding testimony to Luther's ignorance of the Catholic Church and history, but you will find four complaints in his 95.

Answer 6

However we venerate the institution of the Catholic Church, three abuses that were rife in the centuries leading up to the Reformation were: simony, nepotism and the corrupt sale of indulgences. Sexual licence was frequently the order of the day, particularly in the higher echelons of Rome.

Corruption began at the top, with the popes and trickled down through layers of cardinals, bishops and even priests.

Answer 7

A:

Three abuses that were rife in the Catholic Church in the centuries leading up to the Reformation were: simony, nepotism and the corrupt sale of indulgences.