Political and Religious Leadership

Record your ideas of what he thought in the space provided in your notes handout.

During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church was arguably the most powerful institution in Europe. As the Renaissance period was introduced, the church leaders were under speculation of taking advantage of their authority to gain power and money for themselves.

Examples:

• Some Bishops and Cardinals bought their titles
• Many priests did not honour their vow of poverty

Savonarola

A monk from the Dominican order, Girolamo Savonarola, worked hard against the corruption in the Church and society. As the unofficial political leader, he preached sermons that accused the pope of the corruption.

After establishing a separate council against Pope Alexander VI, the Church excommunicated him, as a way to forcefully exclude him from the Church. Over time, the public were tired of his rants and they turned against him. In 1498, Girolamo was found guilty of heresy and execute.

Martin Luther

A German monk who was influenced by the humanist movement was Martin Luther. This man began to study the Bible and he came to the conclusion that the Christians spiritual guide should be the Bible and not the Church.

Luther was very upset at how the Church made money. One way was by selling indulgences. In 1517, Luther nailed his paper Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Church in Wittenberg. Luther challenged other scholars to debate the issue. A "bull" was issued condemning Luther, but he publicly burned this paper from Pope Leo X.

In 1521, Luther was brought to the Imperial Diet (assembly) and was given the option to give up his way of thinking or be excommunicated. Choosing the later, Emperor Charles V made Luther an outlaw and was forced into hiding for the remainder of his life.

List of Papal Bulls

The Protestant Reformation

After Ninety-Five Theses Luther's Protestant translation of the Bible was made available to many Germans. These people broke from the Catholic Church and the Lutheran church was formed. This new way of thinking of Christianity spread throughout Europe and the followers then became Protestant.

The Catholic Counter-Reformation

Pope Paul III organized the Council of Trent, who would then examine the policies within the organization and "clean out" the corruption among the higher clergy and priests were given a better education.

The Jesuit missionaries who were part of the Society of Jesus, worked to convert people to Catholicism. These missionaries were active during the early days of settlement in Canada. The Wendat (Huron tribe) called them the "Black Robes" because of the clothes they wore.¹

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