Criticism Of The Catholic Church

1. Criticism Of The Catholic Church By David Oh, Tazio Galardi, Clayton Thompson, Andrew Kelly, & Lucas Mrs. Lonergan, Catholic Faith, Red 1 7 May 2013

2. Indulgences • Intent of indulgences: offer Christians an alternative way of “doing good” to repent their sins. • Power became corrupt in the church. • People believed they could sin all the time. • Buying indulgences became a mockery of religion. • John Tetzel: a Dominican friar & seller of indulgences. • Tetzel widely attracted crowds with sales pitches. • Declared buying indulgences freed you of all sins.

3. Martin Luther • Augustinian priest & monk. • A scholar. • Studied the Bible and church fathers. • Ran a monastery in Wittenburg, Germany. • Lived a strict religious life.

4. The Protestant Reformation • Began in 1517. • Luther sent a letter to Archbishop Albert of Mainz. • The Letter contained the famous Ninety-five Theses. • Luther’s ideas pertained to the issues of indulgences, sin, forgiveness, and power to grant them. • Luther claimed the indulgences contradicted the idea of Catholic Theology. • Sparked a radical change during the time.

5. Luther’s Philosophy • Brought up new ideas about papal authority, grace, and the Bible. • Popes had authority, only by human agreement. • Luther claimed people are solely saved by Jesus Christ himself. • Luther stated that The Bible was the sole supreme authority of a person’s life. • People began discussing Luther’s ideas about where their money went, the pope’s authority, and faith.

6. Failed Attempts to Reconcile With Rome • Pope Leo X. • Luther accused of heresy for denying pope’s authority. • Support from people in Saxony. • Wrote directly to Leo X to deny heresy. • Summoned to Rome to answer questions.

7. On the Bible as the Sole Supreme Authority • Living in Wittenberg, Luther continued writing, preaching, and teaching at the university. • The Bible was the sole supreme authority in a Christian. However, This belief stood in contrast with the Catholic position.

8. Luther Excommunicated • In 1520, the Roman Curia, who were sure of the new emperor's support, produced a document excommunicating Luther that is, putting him out of the church. • So Luther had sixty days to reserve his teaching or be excommunicated. • The official from Rome had a difficult time posting excommunication orders in Luther's case because many Germans stood with Luther. • With only three weeks left before he had to recant or be arrested, Luther was "kidnapped" by his friend Duke Frederick and was hidden in a castle at Wartburg.

9. Still a Catholic? • Luther still considered himself to be a Catholic. • He believed in the sacraments; Baptism, the Eucharist, and perhaps penance. • Luther believed in Christ's real presence in the Eucharist. • But he denied that the Mass was a sacrifice in the sense popular in his day.

10. Augsburg Confession • In 1530 • Luther’s good friend Philipp Melanchthon. • He composed a document for the German national assembly in Augsburg. • It summarized the teaching of those who followed Luther. • The document also outlined the reforms proposed by Luther to correct the abuses in the church. The Lutheran church emerged.

11. Luther's impact on politics • Luther took the peasant's side, urging nobles to reform the conditions of German working people. • As a result, the Peasant’s Revolt erupted, lasting from 1523 to 1525. • In the battles, the nobles’ armies slaughtered 130,000 peasants to rebel.

12. Rulers Choose the Religion for Their Region • Lutheranism grew into a popular movement in northern Germany. • Lutherans agreed to the Peace of Augsburg, which said that local rulers could choose the religion of their domain. • For some rulers, accepting the new religion meant independence from Roman church taxes and from the Holy Roman emperor.