Purgatory During the Protestant Reformation Essay - 654 Words

Purgatory During the Protestant Reformation All Souls Day, November 2nd, does anyone really understand why it is a holy day or is it just another meaningless holiday Catholics are asked to attend church? All Souls Day is a day that the Catholic Church has set aside to help pray for all the souls not yet joined with god. During this day, people are asked to pray for all of the departed who have passed on and are now in purgatory working very hard to have the privilege of joining to god. Purgatory has been an important aspect of organized religion from the early days of the church until now, but never more controversial then during the time of the protestant reformation. The following pages examine the belief of†¦show more content†¦They were widely circulated in Germany and caused a great controversy. Luther was ordered to recant by Cardinal Cajetan but he refused. Some people thought that Luther had a valid point, and those people were the ones who followed him. This is where we get the split of ideas and of the churches themselves. This split in the churches has a lot to do with the idea of purgatory and the selling of indulgences. Indulgences were sold to people to reduce their time in purgatory. These indulgences were sold at a very high price and most people either could not afford them or were forced to sell all they owned to purchase them. A soul is released from purgatory and carried to heaven as soon as the money tinkles in the box. (13 9 13) The existence of purgatory and indulgences were not what started the split it was the selling of the indulgences and the extremely high prices for them that caused the split in the church and in the belief of purgatory itself. The doctrine of purgatory is not very involved in the Catholic Church. There are only three paragraphs in the catechism. The basic understanding is that there is a third place after death where a person who has not sinned enough to go to hell but has not been perfect goes to be purified. Also, God helps the people in purgatory so they are not completely cut off from Him like in hell. The only other belief about purgatory is that the purification has toShow MoreRelatedThe Protestant Reformation And The Reformation Essay1379 Words   |  6 PagesThe Protestant Reformation Why the Protestant Reformation is considered a significant development in the Christian Church. The Protestant Reformation was an event which occurred within the Catholic Church during the 16th century. This Reformation was prompted by Martin Luther’s ‘95 theses’ which were a list of 95 criticisms towards the church. 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