Abuses of the Roman Catholic Chruch during the 14 and 1500's

As a consequence of the explosion of culture and religion through the Renaissance period of the 16th century, the church went from crise to crise culminating to the time of an Augustinian monk called Martin Luther. The Renaissance period saw the rebirth of critical thinking against the church and when this was applied, it led to relationship discrepancies between Popes, Kings and the relationship between the clergy and the people. There were huge expectations placed on the Roman Catholic Church at this time, however during this period the cultural and religious unity of Europe was decimated. Martin Luther would later go on to be one of the greatest challenges towards the church.

Corrupt Renaissance Popes, the scandal of the Great Western Schism, nepotism, and the selling of Episcopal offices weakened the papacy. Christians wanted reform in the leadership of the Church. Although all of these factors contributed to the demise of the church, the selling of indulgences by Pope Leo X was...