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Causes Of The Protestant Reformation

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The Protestant Reformation is when Lutheranism and other Protestant religions split from catholicism. This happened by Martin Luther posting 95 themes all over churches to bring attention to how wrong the catholic church has turned. Some examples of Protestant religions are Lutheranism, Anglican(church of England), and Calvinism. The underlying causes for the Reformation is: the people of power in the catholic church wanted a lot of money from the people, the pope had too much power, and the catholic church did not like how the Protestant churches were being run. Luther wanted to separate from the church because the church leaders got to greedy for money. The priests and leaders of the catholic church started to make up things such as selling indulgences which was basically pay the church to be forgiven for your sins and your families sins. Document 4 says, “They[pastors] fatten on the sins of the people,” this shows that pastors only cared for the ‘fleece’ or money of the people rather than actually caring for them. Another example that shows that the catholic church cares for nothing but money is the fact that they got upset when people spent money on things that did not necessarily matter. Document 8 is proof that people were spending lots money on non holy things, the texts says, “So much money is going into the coffer of the vendor that new coins must be minted on the spot,”. Document 6 shows that priests were getting upset on how people were spending their money. The text says “Where is our gratefulness toward God...For so many enslave all their senses to delights…”. This made Luther want to create Lutheranism because he felt that religion should not be about how much money one has but rather their soul. The pope has too much power is another cause for the Protestant Reformation. Document 2 is a play that has 2 people that talk about how the pope has too much power. The characters, Peter and Julius, mention that the pope “is not to be punished for his bad deeds” and that, “he can cancel any canon[law] he does not like,” lastly they mention that the pope can “cheat Christ with his laws,”.These quotes show that the pope has so much power that he can do whatever he wants. Document 7 is another example

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