False.
How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and the Success of the West
RODNEY STARK
**“Through all prior recorded history, slavery was universal — Christianity began in a world where as much as half the population was in bondage. But by the seventh century, Christianity had become the only major world religion to formulate specific theological opposition to slavery, and, by no later than the 11th century, the Church had expelled the dreadful institution from Europe.” **[My emphasis].
catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/how-christianity-led-to-freedom-capitalism-and-the-success-of-the-west.html
False. The Catholic Church has never been, and can never be, “corrupt”.
**The Protestant Reformation/ Indulgences
Question from Shane Brinegar on 11-06-2002: **
Many Protestant Theologians and Secular Historians say that the Church was corrupt during the time of the Reformation, and that it had fallen away from true Biblical Doctrines. They claim this is what lead Luther to Reform and his 95 theses. I have also read this in many church history books. Is the literature correct? Did Tetzel really preach, When the coin in the coffer rings the soul from purgatory springs. It sounds as though the church was using the sale of indulgences, as a way of taxation? Please Clarify. God Bless, Shane
**Answer by Fr. John Echert on 11-06-2002 (EWTN): **
No more true than for one who claims a few hundred years from now that during the time of the present sex scandal, the Church herself had fallen from her moral teaching on sexuality.
Indulgences are a valid theological reality, and if in times past some abused the legitimate practice regarding these, that is a failure of members of the institutional aspect of the Church, not the Church herself, who remains always the spotless Bride of Christ. The analogy fits and is a reminder to Catholics to distinguish between the divinely appointed and guided Holy Church and the fallible human element within her. [My emphasis].
tinyurl.com/kg274px