Catholic reforms?

[Flavius_Aetius]

Ok I’ve had a question for a while so I’d like an opinion on this. I know the Medieval Papacy had many problems with corruption and bought Popes by Italian families. Trust me just mentioning the Catholic Church and thats the first thing I get from my school peers. Anyways what I was wondering is do you believe that the Church would of begun changes that the counter-reformation brought if their was no major protestant break away of the Catholic Church.

Do you think it would of taken longer to clean the corruption in the Chuch, do you think it never would be dealt with since their was no main reason to do so, or that it was bound to happen anyways without Protestant leaders dividing Europe between Protestant and Catholic?

Also I am trying to be a good Catholic so I don’t know if I’m allowed to mention the corruption in the Chuch without sining?

 

[LilyM]

Ok I’ve had a question for a while so I’d like an opinion on this. I know the Medieval Papacy had many problems with corruption and bought Popes by Italian families. Trust me just mentioning the Catholic Church and thats the first thing I get from my school peers. Anyways what I was wondering is do you believe that the Church would of begun changes that the counter-reformation brought if their was no major protestant break away of the Catholic Church.

Do you think it would of taken longer to clean the corruption in the Chuch, do you think it never would be dealt with since their was no main reason to do so, or that it was bound to happen anyways without Protestant leaders dividing Europe between Protestant and Catholic?

Also I am trying to be a good Catholic so I don’t know if I’m allowed to mention the corruption in the Chuch without sining?

Who knows how long it would’ve taken without the Reformation, it’s fruitless to speculate really.

As for cleaning up corruption - yes, there have been numerous occasions in Church history (for example during the time of St Francis of Assisi in the 12-13th centuries) where efforts were made to reform the Church without anything nearly as dramatic as the Reformation having to happen.

And you’re absolutely not sinning by commenting honestly on the fact that bishops, priests and Popes have occasionally been corrupt (not that error was ever officially taught, but churchmen are sinners like all of us, some have been absolute scoundrels like some of the rest of us).

Put it this way - remember St Peter refusing to eat with the Gentiles? He certainly wasn’t perfect, and certainly sinned through lack of both charity and backbone on that occasion, if nothing worse, and St Paul rightly criticised him for it.