Changes

The Humanists were not revolutionaries. They were often social conservatives and usually devout Catholics. This can be seen in the case of the great Erasmus and his friend the English statesman and writer Thomas More. However, in their interrogation and examination of texts and their desire to purge them of any medieval corruptions or additions they changed the way that people viewed the Church. The work of Erasmus and other scholars did much to weaken the Papacy.<ref>Payton. P. 34</ref>. Their examination of key texts revealed that much of the authority of the Church was built on flimsy foundations. This led many to challenge the power of the Pope. As leader of the Church, he was infallible, and his words on secular and religious issues were to be obeyed without question.

After the humanists’ revelations, many of the faithful began to wonder if the Pope. ‘as the heir of St Peter’ was infallible and should he be rendered unquestioned obedience.<ref> Patrick, p 117</ref>. The reformers under the influence of the Humanists began to examine the Bible, which they saw as the unquestioned Word of God, to find answers. They became less inclined to take the words of the Pope as law and argued that only the Bible was the source of authority. They too like the Humanists decided to go back to the ‘sources’ in this case the Bible. They eventually came to see the Bible as the only source of authority and increasingly began to view the Pope and the Catholic Church as having distorted the message of the Gospels.<ref>Collinson, p. 115</ref> This belief soon gained widespread currency among many Reformers and those sympathetic to them in Germany and elsewhere.