corruption within the church was the abuse of power by the Popes, the highest office held in the Catholic Church. A form of this that came to light was the practice of indulgences, which was forgiveness from God given by the Pope that had begun to be sold to Christians. The idea of money cleansing the soul of the sinner did not sit well with many and was looked upon as one of the ways the Catholic Church had become corrupt. These types of corruption were the perfect social backdrop for, and the main reason for, the quick spread of Protestantism. In other words, people were looking for a change in the Catholic church, and when that change came, it was spread quickly. Another important aspect is that the need for reform was not only in the middle or lower classes. Many clergymen and other high ranking church and governmental officials saw a need to clean up the corruption of the Catholic church. Owen Chadwick, the author of The Reformation, states that "at the beginning of the sixteenth century everyone that mattered in the Western Church was crying out for reformation" (11). This dissatisfaction of influential citizens of Europe was crucial to t
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