cardinals and won the adherence of the French king. The only good thing that came out of this ordeal was the growth of a papal council, where not only the pope, but all the bishops are able to discuss issues and make decisions together. Apart from the Protestant reformers, there were other historical facts of the late medieval church that contributed to the tenacious myth of corruption. During the time that the papacy remained in Avignon is often used as an example of the deterioration of the church. After all, hardly any of the popes lived in Rome, which was and is considered the inalienable habitat of Saint Peter. Going back to Avignon, the popes who lived there were usually subject to nepotism and were in constant fights between the Italian cardinals. Of course, these are the downsides to the papacy in Avignon. Many of the popes were dedicated to make the church a more holier and reformed place, abolishing the clerical abuses. For example, what John XXII started off, the reformation of the administration and sanitization was soon taken over by Benedict XI. He strongly dedicated himself to end nepotism, unethical conduct, and immorality among the papacy. He greatly reduced the papal bureaucracy and free distribution of benefices, ensuring that the benefices were given only to a commendable clergy. However, one of the undesired effects of Benedict XIs reform was the expanding concentration and bureaucratization of the church.In church history, the period from five hundred to fifteen hundred AD was defiantly not a thousand years of uncertainty. During this time, Christianity fixed itself rigidly in Western Europe, and it had much energy and refinement, being somewhat a successful political experiment. It was the diversity of the church itself that called for a reformation, not because of the corrupt leaders. Studying Christianity in the Middle Ages, one is bound to find the various forms of the religious orders, depending on the social ...
