1. Background and Factors Leading to the Protestant Reformation
Roman Catholic Church
Background and Factors Leading to the Protestant Reformation

2. Church Hierarchy Pope – Began with St. Peter
-head of the Roman Catholic Church
-seen as vicar (substitute) for Christ on earth
Infallible on matters of faith
-Intepreter of the Bible
-Pontifex Maximus (highest priest)
-pope, pontiff, Bishop of Rome
-currently Pope Francis
-266th pope in history (debated)

3. Evolution of Christianity
Judaism
Judaism
Christianity
1054
Eastern Orthodox Church
Roman Catholicism
1517
Protestantism
Roman Catholicism

4. Church Hierarchy “The Clergy”
Cardinal
-advisor to pope
-dressed in red – symbol of honor
-College of Cardinals – elects new pope
-Currently almost 200 cardinals
Cardinal Richelieu of France

5. Church Hierarchy Archbishop Bishop Priest
-head of a region and all of its dioceses
(Livingston  Archdiocese of Newark)
Bishop
-head of the diocese (group of parishes)
Priest
-head of a parish
Bishop’s miter

6. Church Hierarchy Religious Orders
Those who choose to work toward a common purpose while living a “vowed life” are known as monks (may also be priests) and nuns if they live “cloistered,” or apart from society; friars and sisters if they are active in society and teachers, etc.
Famous Religious Orders
Benedictines, Augustinians, Dominicans, Jesuits, and Franciscans

7. Roman Catholic Sacraments
"The sacraments are signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the church, by which divine life is dispensed to us.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994)”
Baptism (initiation)
2.Eucharist (communion)
3. Penance (confession) – obtaining forgiveness for your sins from a priest or higher
4. Confirmation (adult initiation)
5. Holy Orders (call to join clergy)
6. Matrimony (marriage)
7. Anointing of the Sick (last rites)

8. Protestants Accepted…
Baptism (initiation)
Eucharist (communion)
-Transubstantiation (Catholic belief)
-Consubstantiation (Protestant belief)
Luther stressed that only these two appear in the Bible – the remaining 5 are “man-made”

9. Other Philosophical Differences:
Catholics  salvation by faith and good works (be good and be saved; receive sacraments frequently – Eucharist and Penance )
Protestants  salvation by faith alone (because no human act could be seen as satisfactory to earn salvation)

10. Veneration of Saints

11. Hell – Dante’s Inferno (14th c.)

12. Purgatory

13. Limbo
Those who died before Christianity…Old Testament and Ancient Greeks, etc.
Those children who died before baptism

14. Indulgences Paying for reduced time in Purgatory