These problems can be divided into two major components. The first is the internal church politics that the Avignon and Roman sides engaged in against each other. These politics lengthened the duration of the Schism and also reduced the effectiveness of the solutions proposed in ending the Schism. The second is the effect of external politics playing on the internal church politics. The external politics had contributed to the Schism becoming a secular problem and split the loyalties of Europe.
Within the public intensions the king wanted to bring the clergymen into the sphere of his subjects. Clergymen of England were under the influence of the Pope, and saw the king as a second leadership figure. The Monasteries were also an outdated system that needed to be changed, for the better according to Henry VIII. The Dissolution would also show if the monasteries were suitable to serve as hospitals and as educational centres for the people of England. However, Henry and Cromwell had their own private intensions to dissolve the monasteries.
In the end; the reformation opened up a lot of new ideas and also fixed up many of the flaws that were plaguing the Catholic Church. First of all, the Counter Reformation had spread out to other countries, mostly because of the Jesuits. The Jesuits were a group of Catholics that Ignatius Loyola to preach Catholicism. These Jesuits were totally focused on the church and did whatever the pope said to do. Even spread the faith to different countries that had many Protestants.
The Victorian period, up until the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, was therefore a time of religious confusion, but also, as we will see, of great charity, as well as of birth of new beliefs. What role did religion play in the lives of citizens of this period and their society? The Victorian era was marked by the immense influence of the Church of England in religion, of course, but also in politics- being linked to the government meant it had its hand in certain social decisions, such as the oppression of dissenters. This naturally caused friction amongst people of other faith, especially the Catholics who had previously been stripped of many of their civil rights, which were only returned to them in 1827 by Parliament. They had a long wait until 1840 to see the tax-supported status of the Anglican Church be removed, making them equal once again.
Therefore by reforming the English Church and removing the Pope and making Henry VIII the Supreme Head of the Church in England, there was a revolution in the relationship between Church and State. Also as Thomas Cromwell, who masterminded this manoeuvre, had used parliament to enforce the reformation the principle that King-in-parliament was the highest form of authority. This sat very well with Henry VIII and appealed far more to those who lent to the positive and idealistic though secular form of anti-clericalism. This is one reason why the English Church did need to be reformed in the 16th century. Another reason the English Church may have needed reforming would be that many people lost enthusiasm for religious orders and religious images in the 16th century.
Introduction For Augustine, the Roman church was the seat of Peter to whom the Lord after his resurrection entrusted the feeding of his sheep and the church in which the primacy of apostolic chair developed and remained successful. The fall of the Western Roman Empire and its invasion by the barbarians created a number of independent kingdoms each of which was of great significance for the latter history of the church in its territory. It also gave new functions and power to two institutions that had began to develop earlier the monastic and the papacy. More invasions posed new challenges to the church and were very disastrous. This condition raised diverse reasons for papal power from different popes who contributed differently to its growth.
During this same time, the Catholic Church was moving further from the theology of the Protestants. The reformation was also known as the “Protestant revolt from the medieval Roman Catholic Church” (Harvey, 1918, p. 321). Luther was active in pointing out the “characteristic differences of attitude, of tendency, and of judgment, as well as of method, exhibited in these modern attempts to portray and interpret the most widely influential of the earliest founders of Protestantism” (Harvey, 1918, p. 321). Luther wanted to stress that there was a need to expunge the “corrupt bureaucracy” within the church, which can only be done when the church returns to the Bible (Owenby, 2011, p. 1). Luther believed that all believers should abide by the words of ‘our Lord and Master Jesus Christ” and repent of our sins (Morris, 1998, p. 56).
Gregory VII saw these offenses, how they were tearing away at the church as a whole, and wanted to abolish these practices. It was through the reform and purification that then led to a more organized church, with a strong hand placed firmly on the ruling class of the medieval era. In 325 AD the Council of Nicaea forbade marriage and concubinage among the lower ranks of the clergy, which were still customary too much of the Western church. The reform of the 11th century was determined to eliminate this behavior at all costs. While Pope Gregory VII did not introduce the celibacy of the priesthood into the Church, he did take up the fight against the indecency with greater energy unlike his predecessors.
In the early 16th century, the Protestant Reformation divided the unity of the Roman Catholic Church. The Reformation movement began in Germany led by Martin Luther. His speeches and writings were passed on all over Europe with the help of the printing press. It started in response to the rising sense of corruption in the church. For instance, “the sale of indulgences for the benefit of the church of Rome specifically for the rebuilding of St. Peters Cathedral provoked harsh criticism, especially by those who saw the luxuries of the papacy as a betrayal of apostolic ideals ” (Fiero 119).
One of the major events that assisted the fall of the Holy Roman Empire was Thirty Years’ War. The event that started the Thirty Years’ War was “defenestration of Prague.” Two of Ferdinand’s officials were thrown out a window. The Lutherans violated the Peace of Augsburg by acquiring German Bishops, Calvinists converting princes, and Jesuits reconverting princes to Catholicism. The Calvinists and Catholics had many advantages because of that which made the Lutherans fear the Peace of Augsburg would be negatively impaired. The Lutheran Princes felt it necessary to create the Protestant Union and in retaliation the Catholics formed to Catholic League.