Final answer:
John Wycliffe's role in the pre-Reformation period was to challenge the authority of the Pope and advocate for the Bible's accessibility to all, influencing later reformers.
Step-by-step explanation:
The main role of John Wycliffe during the Protestant Reformation was to increase skepticism and questioning of papal authority in the church. Although Wycliffe predated the Reformation by about 150 years, his ideas laid the groundwork for what would later surface in greater force during the sixteenth century.
Wycliffe translated the Bible into English and advocated for the scripture to be made accessible to everyone, not just the clergy, which was a radical idea at the time. His teachings promoted the notion that the Bible should be the authority in religious matters, a concept that significantly influenced later reformers like Martin Luther.