Since the period of Reformation in England, the church ranked first among the institutions known for practicing corruption. At this, the church itself was supposed to object corruption as such because its position in the matter of corruption initially was opposing: “Ye shall not offer unto the LORD that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut; neither shall ye make any offering thereof in your land. Neither from a stranger’s hand shall ye offer the bread of your God of any of these; because their corruption is in them, and blemishes are in them: they shall not be accepted for you” (New York Bible Society & British and Foreign Bible Society, 168). Some people argue that that most of the actions of the church in the course of its development cannot be regarded as corruptive whereas others state that the desire of the church to enrich itself at the cost of believers without any doubt deserved criticism. It is necessary to reveal certain examples from the history of corruption development in church in order to find out whether the corruption indeed took place back then.
To begin with, some attention should be paid to the corruption of the medieval church. During the Middle Ages, the cases of clerical abuses were rather frequent. Indulgencies were the most observable form of corruption because most believers were ready to pay money in order to cleanse themselves from sins. At this period of time the popes led luxurious lifestyles this is why they badly needed money to live the way they used to. Not only indulgencies were widespread but simony, the sale of the church items in order to gain money for church, and repentance in the sins through pilgrimages to the sites of relics and charging people who wanted to see the relics could also be observed.
Moreover, some other historical realities, such as papacy in Avignon testify to the presence of corruption in the medieval church. The papacy which resided in Avignon is often treated as degeneration of medieval papacy because nepotism among Avignon popes for the purpose of the curia was quite common. With time political prestige of the papacy resulted in the struggle between French and Italian cardinals which made the popes introduce certain reforms to abolish or at least reduce clerical abuses. This period of history is also characterized by ruling of Clement V who brought the church finances into a disastrous state and Benedict XI’s attempts to end malpractice, corruption and nepotism among the clergy.
And finally, Western Schism can serve as an illustration of corruption in the medieval church. After the death of Gregory XI, the cardinals were divided into French and Italian fractions. When French cardinals were still at Avignon another pope Urban VI was elected though under a certain pressure. Urban VI was known for his tactlessness and insulting French cardinals who eventually claimed the invalidity of his reassignment and elected Clement VII as a new pope. On the whole, the schism damaged the reputation of both church and papacy and laid a beginning to conciliarism (the popes were entitled to make canonical decisions which earlier only the pope had a right to do).
All in all, it can be stated that no matter how the church tried to hide that it was corruptive, the historical facts testify that throughout the Middle Ages and even later the instances of corruption did take place and cannot be denied.
Works Cited
New York Bible Society, British and Foreign Bible Society. The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments: Translated Out of the Original Tongues and with the Former Translations Diligently Compared & Revised: Set Forth in 1611 and Commonly Known as the King James Version. Wm. Collins & Sons, & Co., 1866