Before the 1300s, most bishops were elected locally and few were appointed by the pope. This had been the pattern from the very beginning. The 1300s was a very unsettled time for the Catholic Church as it was spilt between having its centralized offices in Avignon, France, and Rome, Italy, eventually leading to multiple popes at the same time with one excommunicating the other and at one point having a third pope. This was not a reform, however, did show major divisions within the territorial churches that one could argue that left the Church in a weakened position, because of its overly concern with temporal matters, rather than spiritual matters, allowing for the later Protestant Reformation.
The Council of Florence occurred in 1439 when the emperor of Constantinople, the
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Theological discussions that divided the two traditions of Christianity were discussed and sufficient agreement was made that they were both able to sign a decree of union on July 6, 1439. This Council’s agreement showed ecumenism at the top of the two religious traditions, but was often opposed by those at various levels of power below. Ultimately, in 1453, the Ottoman Turks overran Constantinople, and the re-unification between East and West did not take place and the two religious groups remain separated today. The Council of Constanopil
The 15th century had numerous significant reformations in the Catholic Church. Coming out of the 15th century, the modern nations of the Europe, namely France, England, and Spain, were looking to free themselves of the past powers that dominated them which was mainly the Catholic Church and the German empire. Along with his questioning of institutions of the past, came the invention of the printing press that