Was the Catholic Church in need of reform?

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Lucy Bainbridge                                                                                             21/06/2009

Was the Catholic Church in need of reform?

I believe that on the whole the Catholic Church was in need of a reform in the 16th century; however there were some parts did function well and showed the church to be a strong healthy part in community.

There were several key problems with the papacy which amounted over time. Firstly the pope was supposed to be elected, however some powerful wealthy aristocratic families such as the Medici’s were able to use bribery in order to get to power. This meant that the church was less about sending a message from god and helping the people in their community and more about a vicious power struggle. An example of this kind of abuse is Alexander VI, he was first a Cardinal in the church, then through huge bribery became the Pope. Although he was not completely terrible as the Pope; he managed to restore order in Rome and he challenged the Italian Princes. However it can be shown he had a number of mistresses and illegitimate children which was of course against church rules. Also most of these children were looked after with clerical titles and income. In total Alexander VI appointed 47 Cardinals in total, some of which were his own children. In 1498 Alexander did oversee the burning of Girolamo Savonarola, who denied the papal authority and preached the heretical doctrine.

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There were also several complaints about the bishop and clergy. These were; simony, nepotism, plurism, absenteeism, clerical marriage and illiteracy.  Simony was the buying and selling of a benefice. This was not allowed in the church as a benefice was the area which a priest would look after therefore it should not be sold ect. Nepotism was the securing of a benefice for a member of ones family. Plurism was the holding of more than one benefice at anyone time. This was an important reason for why the church was in need having reform as if a priest owned more ...

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