Question

The Protestant Reformation was born out of disagreement over the Catholic Church's sale of _____. indulgences offerings sacraments

Answer 1

The Protestant Reformation was started because of the Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences. Indulgences were essentially ‘passes into heaven’. If someone sinned they could buy their repentance by a donation to the church. Protestant’s felt that someone should truly be repentant after sinning to help them become good Christians. Someone able to simply buy an indulgence after every sin wasn’t learning anything except that they could do what they wanted and still go to Heaven.

Answer 2

Answer: Indulgences

Explanation: The very term of indulgence in the Catholic Church refers to the possibility of reducing the punishment after death due to committed sins during life. The punishment can be reduced when passing through the Purgatory, and so mitigate the punishment. Thus, the concept of cleansing when passing through the Purgatory refers to the period after death. However, the Church offered indulgences for sale, even for life, and thus, according to their claim, the sins would be reduced. This caused the reaction of Martin Luther and the attempt to reform within the Church, which ended with the appearance of the Protestant Church.