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Corruption In The Middle Ages Essay

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Corruption In The Middle Ages Essay
ECCLESIASTICAL CORRUPTION IN THE MIDDLE AGES

Religion and faith dominated virtually every aspect of life during the middle Ages. However, the Church 's influence suffered greatly during the later part of this age of faith. Many historians hold that the Medieval Church was a landmark of corruption. This view is often used to explain the decline and fall of the Church and the success of Martin Luther 's reformation. It depicts the Church as being ruled by power hungry popes who abuse their positions of authority. At this time "the increasing hostility of the laity to ecclesiastical wealth and decadence undermined papal prestige".

"Omne malum a clero"--every evil comes from the clergy. The clergy are church officials who are divided into two …show more content…
The medieval inquisition marks a period in the Middle Ages where the papacy became obsessed with the conviction of heretics. A heretic is any person who denies or doubts the doctrine of the Catholic Church. This heresy crisis peaked in the 1180 's as cannon law allowed for the inquisitio where bishops "were held to inquire into reputed crimes in their dioceses rather than rely exclusively on charges brought by the informers or accusers" which was a method that was "most conspicuously applied against heretics, thereby gradually institutionalizing the Inquisition". Behind this excess was the driving power of rampant superstition and obsession with the devil that took possession of the papacy. The devil obsession began to run daily life as charging witches freely of heresy became widely accepted. The witch trials and witch burnings spread and the official church did nothing to shield the victims of these atrocities with the Gospel teachings. Innocent VII in his Bull "Summis Desiderantes" of 1484 "gave the Dominicans in Constance plenary powers in the matter of witch burning, and threatened with the ecclesiastical punishments anyone who opposed the prosecution of witches." Christ had healed those who were possessed by demons, and now the name of the same Christ, they were being burnt by the
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