1. By the 1500's, additional forces weakened the church. 

2. The renaissance emphasis on the secular and the individual challenged church authority.
3. The printing press spread these secular ideas.
4. some rulers began to challenge the churches political power.
5. In Germany which was divided into many competing states it was difficult for the pope or emperor to impose central authority.
6. northern merchants resented paying church taxes to rome.
7. A new movement for religious reform began in Germany.
8. It then swept much of Europe.
9. the renaissance values of humanism led people to question the church
10. the printing press helped to spread ideas critical of the church.

1. powerful monarchs challenged the church as the supreme power in Europe
2. many leaders viewed the pope as a foreign ruler and challenged his authority
3. european princes and kings were jealous of the churches wealth
4. merchants and others resented having to pay taxes to the church
5. some church leaders had become worldly and corrupt
6. many people found church practices such as the sale of indulgences unacceptable.
7. critics of the church claimed that its leaders were corrupt.
8. the popes who ruled during the renaissance patronized the arts spent extravagantly on personal pleasure and fought wars.