The Causes of the Reformation

This article looks into some of the reasons for reformation. On 31st October, 2017, the Christian world keeps the 500th  anniversary of the Reformation, the event that permanently divided  the  western Church into Catholic and Protestant. Who could be blamed for it? Apparently, the main responsibility for it should be laid at the door of the papacy, if what has been said above is any indication, or on Martin Luther, who, according to many Catholics, should be considered the prime factor. But let us go deeper into the question and see how complex the situation was before we fix the blame on one person or one event. It was not the result of one cause or the work of one man. “Long before the outbreak of the Reformation things occurred, facts were provided, steps were taken, ideas  were spread and emotions were stirred, which facilitated, made possible, provoked, and even made unavoidable the coming of a revolt  against the church – so unavoidable that we can speak of an inner  historical  necessity.” This article look at some of these factors in detail.

The successor of Pope Leo X, Adrian VI, said at his first consistorial allocution: “Depravity has become so taken for granted that those soiled by it no longer notice the stench of sin.” The progress of the Reformation clearly shows the guilt of the Catholic Church in the emergence of reformation. This reminds us of saying of the famous  historian, Oswald Spengler: “Luther fought the church not because it demanded too much, but because it demanded too little.”