The Reformation really was the Middle Ages' way of ending themselves and releasing the Western mind from the official, singular faith which never had encompassed all of medieval life anyway. As the lastgreat flowering of Medievaldom, it was intensely preoccupied with life in the hereafter, redemption and both the word and world of God. It was characterized by intolerance and superstition, narrow-mindedness and credulity as an upsurge in belief led to an addiction to demons and witches as well as a renewed commitment to Christ and eventually to reason.

While belief was reestablished, the Church and the ecclesiastical structure of the Middle Ages were shattered by the combined attitudes of the princes, people and Popes. The princes were particularly vexed not only by the clergy's immorality but by the Church's interference in lay affairs, its claims of overlordship and its financial policies and practices. During the Middle Ages, leaders of the emerging nation-states had gradually lost respect for the Church and come to fear it less and less. By the sixteenth century, when the Church sided with the Emperor against the nobles, the princes reached the point of grumbling about staging an irreligious revolt against the world-rule of the Church.

On the other hand, the people objected not to the power of the Church but to its weakness. They wanted a Church which would help them oppose wickedness here on earth: That is, they wanted more Christian control, not less. Their objection to the Pope was that he was just another wealthy, strong-armed prince rather than the spiritual leader of the Christian world. In the three-corner struggle among the Popes, princes and people, the Popes sought alliances with various princes but never concerned themselves with their general popularity.

Ultimately, however, the Reformation was caused by the Renaissance Popes, who provided the motivation and material for all those who challenged their authority. It was the Popes, not Luther, the princes or the people, who destroyed the Western theocracy both by what they did and did not do—because of both what the Church was and was not. Far from clashing with secularism, the Popes had welcomed it into the Vatican, which they had secularized to the point of shameless corruption while inhibiting reforms in theology and thought which would have allowed them and others to understand what was happening. By embracing corrupting, worldly values while embodying a spiritual void, they eventually caused the splintering of Christendom.

Beginning with Sixtus IV (1471-1484), papal deterioration was rapid and complete. Sixtus was a despot who never let his role as servant of Christ interfere with his role as Vatican prince. Following him was Innocent VIII (1484-1492)—a weak, compliant family man who provided for his children.

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