1. The Protestant Reformation By the year 1500, Europe was distinctly Christian  Most Europeans were Christian, and there was only one church, with the pope in Rome as its leader (hence it was called the “Roman Catholic church”  After the fall of the Roman Empire in the West (476 AD), the Church had done much to preserve the great literary works and its government structures, and to take care of the poor and the sick.  It had now become closely intertwined with people’s lives and with the government

2. The Protestant Reformation People contributed a lot of money to the Church, and as a result, the Church was able to purchase a great deal of land  Being a member of the clergy (eg. priests, bishops, etc.) became a very prestigious life, and eventually was only reserved for those who had money.  Some Christians started to become unhappy with the way the Church was being run

3. The Protestant Reformation From time to time, different Christians would bring forward ideas that were opposed to those of the Church  These disagreements with the official teachings of the Church were known as heresies, and the Church fought very hard to keep these opposing ideas from spreading to others

4. The Protestant Reformation Many monarchs (eg. kings, etc.) began to want a share of the money that the Church was collecting  Some tried to gain control of the Church by establishing a pope that they could influence  At one point, there was a huge division within the Church, where not everyone could agree on who was actually the pope. This time of division is referred to as the Great Schism (1378 to 1418).

5. The Protestant Reformation Also at this time, the Church was collecting money from Christians, saying that if believers supported the Church financially, they would receive a heavenly reward.  This led to the sale of indulgences, which became a great scandal to many people.

6. The Protestant Reformation With the Church already weakened by its problems with various monarchs, it was now imminent that some type of change would occur.  Two people – Martin Luther and John Calvin – would lead the way in “protesting” against the abuses and scandals within the Church, eventually leading to a huge group of Christians splitting off. This would be the Protestant Reformation that led to Protestant Churches.