Download The Renaissance values of humanism and

The Renaissance values of humanism and secularism led
people to question the Roman Catholic Church.
European princes and kings were jealous of the Roman
Catholic Church’s wealth.
The printing press helped to spread ideas critical of the
Roman Catholic Church.
Merchants and others resented having to pay taxes to the
Roman Catholic Church.
Powerful monarchs challenged the Roman Catholic Church
as the supreme power in Europe.
Some Roman Catholic Church leaders had become worldly
and corrupt.
Many leaders viewed the pope as a foreign ruler and
challenged his authority.
Many people found Roman Catholic Church practices such
as the sale of indulgences unacceptable.
John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, and Thomas Erasmus advocated
Roman Catholic Church reform and taught that the Bible
had more authority than the Church clergy did.
Pope Leo X authorized friar Johann Tetzel to sell
indulgences in order to raise enough money to build St.
Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.
German monk Martin Luther wrote and posted his 95
Theses outlining the Roman Catholic Church’s corruption
and calling for reform.
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V issued the Edict of Worms
declaring Martin Luther a heretic and ordered that no one
give Luther food or shelter.
Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Roman
Catholic Church and although the Church was putting
many of his ideas into practice, he and his followers
formed a separate religious group called the Lutherans.
As missionaries for the Roman Catholic Church, Jesuits led
by Ignatius of Loyola founded schools and converted nonChristians around the world.
John Calvin, a French follower of Luther, believed in
predestination and began a Protestant religion called
Calvinism in Switzerland.
The Roman Catholic Church used the Inquisition to seek
out and punish heretics.
During the Council of Trent, the Roman Catholic Church
redefined their doctrines to include faith and good works.
Europe was permanently divided along religious and
cultural lines.
The Roman Catholic Church became more unified as a
result of the Catholic or Counter Reformation.
As the Catholic Church’s moral and political authority
declined, European nation-states were developed.
The Reformation’s g questioning of beliefs and authority
laid the ground work for the Enlightenment, an intellectual
and political movement that rejected religions and called
for the overthrow of existing governments.
The many marriages of Henry VIII of England led to conflict
with the Roman Catholic Church and the founding of the
Anglican Church of England.