Until the middle of the fifteenth century the overwhelming majority of Europeans were Christians, and the overwhelming majority of them were Catholics. There had long been calls for reform of the Church. While a few groups might have been discontented with the Church and splintered off to form their own religions, to be Christian in Europe was to be a member of the Catholic Church, adhering to the authority of the Pope in Rome as the Vicar of Christ and to his shepherds spread throughout Western Europe, the cardinals, bishops, parish priests, and nuns. The word catholic means universal; the Catholic Church was so named because of its universal membership and authority of the Pope throughout the Continent rather than the sectarian divisions that would characterize Protestantism. Religion had a tremendous influence in everyday life: the calendar, with its saints' days, feasts, and fasts, helped dictate the.....
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