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In what ways did the Roman Catholic Church confront the threat of Protestantism?
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In what ways did the Roman Catholic Church confront the threat of Protestantism? It was generally felt throughout the 1500's that the Catholic Church was corrupt. The papacy were criticised for abusing their authority and setting a poor example to the laity and the clergy. Pluralism and absenteeism was rife among the secular clerics. The regular clergy, such as monks and nuns, were predominantly landowners and were more interested in managing their estates than serving their community. Teaching, pastoral care and standards of morality had been lost. The laity also paid taxes to the church and the clergy enjoyed unfair privileges, such as the canon law, which allowed them to endure less severe sentences than in the common law courts. Their attitudes caused a lot of opposition to the Catholic Church, in particular Martin Luther, the leader of the protestant reformation. Luther began to become influential as Protestantism became more popular...
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