Question

During the end of the Medieval Era and the throughout the Renaissance the power of the Catholic Church was...


increasing.


decreasing.

Answer 1

Decreasing.

Brief reasons:
- Renaissance humanism and renewed interest in classical learning encouraged secular thinking and criticism of Church authority.
- Corruption (sale of indulgences, nepotism) and events like the Avignon Papacy/Great Schism undermined prestige.
- The printing press spread critical ideas and vernacular Bibles, enabling challenges to Church doctrine.
- The Protestant Reformation (16th century) fragmented Western Christianity and reduced the Church's political and spiritual control.
- Growing centralized nation-states and monarchs asserted authority over religious matters.