The Church In The Middle Ages Essay, Research Paper

During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church directed its main goal as a basis for

unity. Ironically, they preached so much on this theme that more people looked to the

church instead of Christ as their savior. Because of this, the Catholic Church and the

Christian religion suffered from corruption and moral problems.

The Catholic Church was organized in divisions comparable to the Roman

Empire. The bishop became the head of the church and had complete authority. During

the fifth and sixth centuries, the bishop of Rome desired to retain complete authority over

all churches, so by the end of the sixth, the bishop was known as the pope.

The Petrine theory is based on false assumptions. First, the Roman Church has

misinterpreted the Scripture by stating that Christ declared Peter to be the first pope

(Matthew 16). Another, is that only people who were martyr are the only people who can

be saints. The next was that the Pope was the mediator between God and man, this world

and the following. The church looked to the pope for answers but only got false hoods.

The Roman church defines a sacrament as a religious act that grants forgiveness

by a certain performance. The church thought that these were the center of their

teachings. There were seven sacraments. These include Baptism, Confirmation,

Penance, Holy Communion, Matrimony, Holy Orders, and Extreme Unction.

The medieval world considered the clergy as the actual servants of the church.

There were good clergy and bad clergy. Most man went into the service of the church

just to gain high status in society. One of the branches in the clergy was the secular

branch. These people administered the sacraments and the day-to-day duties. The other

branch of clergy became solitude worshipers. They were the most faithful to the church.