Asher Sisneros

Leading up to the beginning of the Reformation—when Martin Luther pinned his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenburg, Germany—the Catholic Church was experiencing noticeable forms of decay and rot. The Reformation was a movement to address the root of these perversions. Some saints within the Catholic Church attempted to address the corruption permeating clerical offices and Catholic doctrine, but most of these efforts were fruitless in the long run. Eventually, the Catholic Church did finally undergo internal reformation at the Council of Trent (1563)¹, but by then, it was too late, and the Protestant schism was already in full swing. 

There were many corruptions within the Catholic Church leading up to the Reformation, but most of the issues could be summarized with one condemnation: worldliness. The clergy during this era—certainly the higher-ups within the Church—were often, though not always, enamored by temporal pleasures. This obsession went from amassing wealth and commissioning extravagant art projects—such as Pope Julius II who commissioned Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel—to accumulating numerous concubines to satisfy their carnal pleasures. The Western civilization historian Walter Kirchner states: “Manifold were the sins of the Church and of the churchmen…Among popes and bishops, corruption of morals existed. Many followed worldly policies, allowed nepotism and simony, and proved greedy and venal.”² 

Additionally, there was an immense lack of training among the clergy. Many took up preaching without understanding basic Christian doctrine. At the time, there were no formal institutions to teach theology such as seminaries. Thus, clerical education was dubious at best. To quote Kirchner once again, “Among the clergy, a shocking lack of training existed.”³ 

In addition to the carnal debauchery and lack of education that permeated the clerical class, there was also the controversy regarding absenteeism. Many clergymen took office and never fulfilled their duties, whether it be preaching or administrative duties. In short, they would take as many offices as possible for the pay but neglect their duties. This was partly permissible because of simony—the purchasing of church offices (i.e., bribery)—but it was also due to a lack of accountability within the Catholic Church. Nevertheless, this lack of accountability should not be surprising seeing as how the corruption seemed to compound the higher one went up the hierarchy. In other words, accountability was not possible because those with the most authority who were in charge of oversight were also the most corrupt. Walter Kirchner states: “Church services and the care of the church buildings were neglected by the priests…Bishops tried to hold as many Church offices as possible without fulfilling the corresponding duties.”⁴

Minor reform attempts were made to address the moral scandals of the Catholic Church. Some of those minor reformers included John Huss, John Wycliffe, Ockham, Marsilius, and Savonarola. Nevertheless, the greatest reformer in terms of who had the greatest impact in fueling the Reformation was indubitably Martin Luther in his famous pinning of the 95 Theses. All of that said, the Protestant Reformation was only possible because of the permeating corruption within the Catholic Church. It was purely a reactionary response. The citizenry noticed that, as Kirchner says, “A large portion of the clergy interested themselves in secular affairs, in science, art, and economics, rather than the salvation of souls.”⁵ The Reformation saw such widespread popularity as a cultural movement because the state of the Church on the eve of the Reformation was that of grotesque wretchedness.

1. Walter Kirchner, Western Civilization Since 1500, (New York, New York: Barnes and Noble, 1965), p. 50. ↩︎
2. Kirchner, Western Civilization Since 1500, p. 40 ↩︎
3. Kirchner, Western Civilization Since 1500, p. 40. ↩︎
4. Kirchner, Western Civilization Since 1500, p. 40 ↩︎
5. Kirchner, Western Civilization Since 1500, p. 41. ↩︎