Criticism Of The Roman Catholic Church During The Late Middle Ages

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Criticism of the Roman Catholic Church during the late Middle Ages greatly influenced attitudes toward religion during the Renaissance due to church corruption as demonstrated in Document 1 (church above the law) and Erasmus’ satire about church policies. Attitudes were also influenced through the spread of humanistic ideas as demonstrated in Mirandola’s excerpt from Oration on the Dignity of Man (document 3) and through the decline of the church demonstrated by the excerpt from the Council of Pisa and Erasmus’ excerpt from the Praise of Folly.

The corruption of the Roman Catholic church from the Pope all the way down to local churches and monks played a major factor in influencing attitudes about it. Marsiglio of Padua blames the church