It was the beginning of the sixteenth century when the Catholic Church had become extremely powerful, especially across Europe, but "internally corrupt". Protestants were already calling to reform the Roman Church and Reformers such as German Martin Luther, Frenchman Jean Calvin, and King Henry VIII, played significant roles in contributing to reforming the Catholic Church. These Reformers opposed to the way the Catholic Church was running, therefore conflict against the church arose amongst scholars, and the Roman Catholic Church started to divide - Protestants were determined to break away from their corrupt religion and form their own.
"Counter - Reformation denotes the period of Catholic revival" which Luther was determined to do. The reformation movement began when German monk Martin Luther posted up the "Ninety-five Theses against the Roman Catholic Church of All Saints in Wittenberg" inviting debate and discussion amongst scholars. It contained a series of grievances opposing the Holy Roman Catholic Empire's way of catholic life, in which Luther was determined to reform. He attacked several more aspects of established Roman Catholicism including indulgences: which Luther condemned the Roman Church for there was no "authority in the Bible to sell indulgences" . In the times of Luther, people believed that indulgences- "remission of punishment still due for sins after absolution" , would save them from execution and purified them temporarily as restitution for wrongdoing in purgatory, thus they wouldn't be required to convert to a better Christian way of living. Luther realised that the people in his time, and before, believed that to get guaranteed salvation and a place in "heaven", external practices like fasting and prayer would get them this. He also believed that clerical power was wrong because God righteously judges people according to their faith, not by good works, by which connects to the idea of indulgence.