Question

What accusation does Luther level at the pope, cardinals, and bishops?

A.) They failed to read the Bible.
B.) They studied the Quran rather than the Bible.
C.) They had stopped teaching the faithful that salvation could only be earned through their own good works.
D.) They created religious orders without rules, which caused monks to live sinful lives.

Answer 1

The correct answer is letter C

Luther was disappointed by what he saw in Rome. Observing the discussions he started to see the clergyman as incompetent, petulant and cynical. The experience made Luther question the Catholic Church.

The doubts continued to germinate in the following years. Using his experience in Bible studies, he proceeded to outline his own interpretation of the Bible. This view diverged from some Catholic maxims.

He went on to say in his sermons at Wittenberg that priests had no power to grant forgiveness. For Luther, forgiveness came from within and no one would be able to bestow it on someone else, be it a priest or a pope. This contradicted the view of the Catholic Church.

Luther also began to reject indulgence, a practice in which a wealthy person sold part of his merits, especially in the form of payment to the church, to save another of dubious faith. He also doubted that the pope would be able to remove a person's soul from purgatory if one of his living relatives paid.