WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The specific phenomenon that brought about the Protestant Reformation was the selling of indulgences by the Church. An indulgence was a certificate offered by the Church that offered the same spiritual power as the sacrament of confession and penance: to have one’s sins absolved.

Detailed explanation-2: -Reformers of the 14th and 15th centuries frequently complained about the “sale” of indulgences by pardoners. And as the papacy weakened in this period, secular governments increasingly allowed the granting of indulgences only in return for a substantial share of the yield, often as much as two-thirds.

Detailed explanation-3: -Its rise was influenced by currents of nationalism, mercantilism, anticlericalism, and opposition to vested property interests in the hands of the church that had begun in the late fourteenth century.