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Have you ever noticed that some people wear crucifixes that have different shapes? There are plain crosses, but there are also crosses with a statue of Jesus on them. If you look closely, this small difference is actually a distinguishing mark between Catholic and Protestant Christians. If the cross is plain without a statue, it's highly likely that person is Protestant. Conversely, if there's a statue of Jesus, it means they are Catholic. But if you examine it more deeply, the types of crosses are actually very numerous. Starting from Roman, Greek, to Byzantine crosses, which have unique and different shapes. Although in principle their basic form is similar, resembling a plus symbol or an addition sign. However, each model has a different meaning, background, and history. However, in today's discussion, we will not discuss all types of crosses in Christianity, but rather we will discuss the two major factions that we often hear about in Christianity, namely Catholic and Protestant. Did you know? In the past, the term Protestant never existed. The Christian world at that time only knew a single authority under the papacy of Rome, which was Catholicism. However, at that time, a man named Martin Luther emerged. He wanted to pioneer a strong protest movement against the corruption of bureaucracy within the Catholic Church at that time. That's why Protestantism was born. So, how chaotic was the condition of the Catholic papal bureaucracy at that time that it gave rise to a movement of separation, and why did Protestantism eventually break away from Catholicism? Let's break it down together completely regarding the history of the church reformation. Before we discuss further how the split between Catholic and Protestant Christianity could happen, we must go back further to understand the context of all this. Why did it happen? We start from around the 14th century. You need to know that Christianity, in this case Catholicism, was the religion adhered to by most of the European population. Whether they were farmers or nobles, everyone relied their lives on Catholic Christian teachings. At that time, there was no such thing as Protestantism. Perhaps you have heard about the Black Death epidemic. Well, at the same time, Europe was being hit by the Black Death epidemic. A deadly plague that caused one-third of Europe's population to lose their lives. Not only that, people at that time also experienced other severe hardships such as mass crop failures due to heavy rain and extreme winters. The consequences of all this caused widespread starvation and death. These unfavorable conditions caused fear among the people. Finally, they tried to find answers to all these problems. And at that time, science had not yet developed well. As a result, people at that time widely believed that all of this was a curse from God. People thought, "Why is God so angry?" Society considered all these bad events to be punishment for their sins. That's why at that time, the phenomenon of flagellants emerged, a group of people who traveled from town to town whipping themselves in public as a form of extreme penance. They believed that by doing this, their sins would be forgiven. Unfortunately, this fear also fueled racism, where Jewish people often became scapegoats because they were frequently accused of poisoning wells. The fear of death being so close made the obsession with the afterlife become massive. A strong belief emerged about purgatory, a place between heaven and hell where souls are cleansed. People believed that without prayers and intercessions from saints, their souls would wander forever in that place. This grim atmosphere was exacerbated by the arrival of a new pandemic, syphilis, which physically damaged its sufferers to the point of madness. In this desperate condition, radical preachers like Girolamo Savonarola emerged, who prophesied the end times and called for moral renewal. Although he was eventually executed, his call became a spark that began to awaken the awareness of Europeans that something was wrong with the moral condition of their world at that time. This mass anxiety about the salvation of souls would then be exploited by the church institution to strengthen its supremacy of power. Amidst the world's chaos that plagued Europe, there was one institution that remained steadfast and unshaken: the papacy. Historian Chris Wickham even called the papacy the first great international power in Europe. Interestingly, their power did not come from the number of soldiers like a state, but from a very neat bureaucracy and total control over the spiritual aspects of humans. The Pope claimed to be the successor of Apostle Peter, possessing the key authority to bind and loose human sins on earth. In short, in the common European society at that time, the Pope's words were a representation of God's voice. Here, the church's authority seemed to desire power. The peak of this ambition exploded in 1302 through a decree from Pope Boniface VIII. That decree stated that eternal salvation could only be obtained by those who were totally submissive to the papacy. As time went on, the unparalleled dominance the church possessed caused them to begin to lose their spiritual direction. Entering the 15th and 16th centuries, there was an extraordinary moral decline within the church bureaucracy. Religious elites were no longer busy providing spiritual guidance, but were more focused on accumulating wealth and political power. The church seemed to be slowly transforming into a greedy bureaucratic machine. This corruption had actually been attempted to be rectified through various efforts such as the Fifth Lateran Council. However, unfortunately, instead of correcting the corrupted morals, this council ended up strengthening the Pope's power. The failure of church leadership to reform itself from within created immense tension with the congregation, including the kings of Europe. This unwillingness to reform would later become the main fuel that ignited the church revolution by Martin Luther in Wittenberg. On the other hand, not all rulers were willing to submit to the church's power. In France, for example, King Philip IV, who had great ambitions to centralize all power in his own hands. He openly did not want anyone, including the church authority, to interfere in the affairs of the French government. The conflict between them then escalated when Philip IV asked the clergy to pay taxes to the state. Something that for centuries had never been done and was even forbidden by the church. From the church's side, Pope Boniface VIII was certainly furious. Remember, because the papacy was the highest authority on earth, he immediately issued a decree prohibiting the king from collecting that tax. However, Philip IV was not a weak king to be easily intimidated. He firmly rejected the decree. Thus, at that very moment, France did not send any taxes or donations to the church in Rome, which they had always sent before. At that time, Rome immediately experienced a financial crisis. In this condition of financial shortage, the church began to look for ways to obtain funds. And that way was found because in 1300, Pope Boniface VIII announced the Jubilee Year, a year of forgiveness of sins. Here, a controversial document called indulgences was born, which would later become the main cause of the church reformation. Indulgences are actually a form of forgiveness that is part of the repentance practice in Catholic teachings. However, due to the corruption in the church's bureaucratic system at that time, indulgences were transformed as if they were a commodity for trade. The church did this by offering these indulgence letters to its congregants with the guarantee that their sins would be erased as long as they were replaced with a certain amount of money. The congregation, fearful of the torments of purgatory, flocked to open their wallets to buy these letters. Without them realizing it, salvation, which was once sacred, now had a price tag and had become the largest fundraising scheme in medieval history. [music] At this point, we will meet the main character in this great event, Martin Luther. Luther's anger erupted when a preacher named Johann Tetzel entered his territory, namely in Wittenberg, Germany, to travel around selling these indulgence letters. His anger intensified when he discovered that the money from the sale of these indulgences was used to build the magnificent St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and was also used to pay off the personal debt of the Archbishop of Mainz in Germany to the Pope in Rome. For Luther, this was a spiritual insult and a very dangerous deception. Indulgences were considered to have trapped the congregation in a false sense of security and hindered sincere repentance. He even said that God would be angry if the practice of selling indulgences was carried out. Then, precisely on the night of October 31, 1517, before the celebration of All Saints' Day, Luther took his action. He nailed a piece of paper containing 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church. Actually, Luther initially did not intend to start a reformation movement. He wrote the theses in Latin only to provoke academic debate among fellow scholars. However, the universe had other plans. Thanks to the printing press, Luther's ideas did not stop at the church door. The text was then translated into German, mass-produced, and within weeks it went viral throughout Europe. The common people, who had felt economically exploited by church tithes, immediately saw Luther as a hero who dared to fight the system. Because of all this, indulgence sales and church income were automatically delayed, and the church's economy was immediately hit. Once again, the church's authority was challenged. Then, what was Rome's response? Of course, they tried to silence Luther. Pope Leo X, who was in power at the time, immediately excommunicated Luther, branding him a heretic. You should know that in those times, the Pope's position was truly above everything. Even emperors and kings in Europe were subject to the church's authority. This was based on a concept of power called the theory of two swords. The Pope was believed to hold two authorities simultaneously: the spiritual sword and the temporal sword. Then the Pope would lend this temporal sword to the emperor or king to carry out worldly governance. Now, based on this concept, hierarchically, the emperor or king was merely an executor who had to be subject and obedient to every decision issued by the Pope. That's why all Christian kingdoms in Europe at that time were subject to the church. Back to Martin Luther's excommunication. When Luther was excommunicated, Emperor Charles V then summoned him to a grand assembly. There, Luther was asked to retract his teachings and all his criticisms. And when asked to do so, Luther firmly replied with his legendary speech. "Here I stand." He declared that he was only subject to his conscience and the Bible, not to the Pope or any council. Based on this statement, the Emperor immediately declared Martin Luther an outlaw with his legal status completely revoked. This meant that anyone who found him could kill him on the spot without fear of prosecution. But at the same time, Frederick the Wise, or Frederick III of Saxony, secretly hid Luther in Wartburg Castle to protect his life. Frederick did this not only because he agreed with Luther's theology, but as a form of political resistance so that his territory would be free from Rome's influence. While in hiding, Luther did something extraordinary. He translated the Bible into everyday German. This was a great revolution because previously the Bible was only available in Latin and could only be accessed by scholars. However, once translated, ordinary farmers and carpenters could now read it themselves. People began to realize that they could connect directly with God without going through a corrupt bureaucracy. What began with Luther in Wittenberg quickly became an unstoppable snowball. In the 1520s, the movement against the Catholic Church spread throughout Europe. The Protestant movement was then promoted with the mission to restore religious teachings to be practiced according to the contents of the Bible. As a counter to Catholicism, new churches began to be established in various regions. This movement ultimately marked the birth of Protestant Christianity. And because it was brought by Martin Luther, his teachings were called Lutheranism. Now, this is where the term Protestant emerged, as the name suggests, from the protest movement. This name seemed to be born from the courage of Luther's followers who voiced strong protests against the deviations in teachings carried out by the church authorities. So, actually, this was not about two religions splitting apart because at that time Protestantism did not yet exist. This movement is more accurately described as a major renovation effort from within. And as time went on into the 1530s, the reformation movement began to branch out into various regions with different motives. In England, King Henry VIII decided to separate from Rome. The reason was more political. He strongly disliked the papacy's supremacy or absolute power, which interfered too much in the affairs of churches in England. Meanwhile, in Geneva, Switzerland, John Calvin emerged, who took Luther's ideas much further. He emphasized the absolute sovereignty of God. Calvin himself chose to completely sever ties with the Catholic Church after a wave of violence against Protestant believers in France. This domino effect continued. Various other denominations such as Anabaptists, Methodists, and Reformed churches began to form. They emerged as responses or alternatives to the Roman Catholic Church, existing Protestant churches, or even as a form of criticism towards both. The Protestant Reformation, or church reformation, finally forced the Catholic Church to reform itself. The church began to improve the morals of its priests and stopped the sale of indulgences, which contradicted religious practices. The deed is done, the split has occurred. Christianity was finally divided into two major, different poles. [music] Have you ever noticed in movies, on social media, or in everyday life, people wearing crucifixes with a statue of Jesus, but also some with plain crosses? Well, this is one of the easiest ways to distinguish between Catholic and Protestant followers. So, what are the actual differences between Catholics and Protestants? Let's find out. For those who don't know, in terms of the cross symbol, Catholic crosses always have a statue of Jesus or corpus. The purpose is to remind believers of Jesus' suffering and sacrifice to atone for human sins. Meanwhile, Protestant crosses are plain because of their belief that Jesus has risen. It's not just about symbols; their worship practices are also different. In Catholicism, there are mandatory prayers on certain days, such as prayers to the Virgin Mary. Whereas in Protestantism, they do not do that. Regarding scripture, there are also slight differences. Protestant believers only rely on one book [music], the Bible. Whereas Catholic believers, in addition to the Bible, also have additional books called [music] Deuterocanonical books. And they also strongly adhere to the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. Then, the view of the church is also very contrasting. For Catholics, the church is a single entity worldwide under the leadership of one person, the Pope in Rome. But in Protestantism, there is no single leader who oversees everything. Their religious leaders also have different titles. In Catholicism, they are called priests. They must be men and there is a rule of celibacy, meaning they are forbidden to marry. Whereas in Protestantism, they are called pastors. The requirements are more flexible; men or women can be pastors, and they are also free to build families or marry. However, both have similar duties, which are to lead worship services. When talking about holy rituals or sacraments, Catholics have seven stages. Whereas Protestants are simpler. They only recognize two main sacraments. Oh, and one more unique thing. Catholic believers usually have baptismal names taken from the names of saints like Peter, Mary, or Michael, which are placed before their real names. Whereas in Protestantism, after baptism, they are not required to have these additional names. The impact of the Protestant Reformation did not stop at theological matters alone, but also reshaped the social, political, and cultural structures in Europe. The most tangible impact, of course, was the permanent division within the Christian world in the West. If in the past Christians looked to Rome, now they are no longer under a single command. Because as a result of this church reformation, various new movements such as Lutheranism, Calvinism, and [music] Anglicanism emerged, each with its own perspective in interpreting Christian teachings. This division also forced the Catholic Church to evaluate itself through the Council of Trent. Through this grand assembly, the church began to reformulate its doctrines in response to the criticisms of the Protestants. One of the important outcomes was the prohibition of the practice of selling indulgence letters. Then, from a political aspect, with the emergence of independent Protestant churches, many countries such as Germany, England, and the Nordic countries began to shed papal influence and adopt Protestantism as their state religion. This phenomenon gradually reduced the political dominance of the Catholic Church on the international stage. This change also paved the way for the emergence of the idea of religious freedom and the initial concept of the separation of religious and state affairs, which we commonly know as secularism. In addition, Luther's spirit of requiring believers to read the Bible triggered a wave of mass education. The translation of the Bible into local languages not only changed the way people practiced their religion but also drastically increased the literacy rate of the European population, which became an important foundation for the social and political development of the world in the future. Furthermore, in other political aspects, the Catholic Church no longer has the supremacy of power as it once did. Its role has now shifted more to social advocacy. The church now focuses more on voicing humanitarian issues such as human rights issues, fighting for justice, and climate change issues. This more inclusive approach shows that a large institution can survive as long as it is able to respond to the changing times in a relevant and impactful way for the wider community. Currently, there are about 1.2 billion Catholic adherents worldwide, with a very wide distribution from Europe, Latin America, Africa, to most of Asia. On the other hand, there are about 600 million Protestant adherents who are also spread across various parts of the world. Although they now have different practices and traditions in practicing their religion, these two major groups still stand on the same foundation. After understanding this event, the most important thing for all of us, whether we are Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, or others, is to live together and respect each other. Because in the end, whatever the tradition and teachings, it is human values that unite us. And that's all for our discussion this time. If you have any questions, suggestions, or perhaps corrections regarding this discussion, don't hesitate to write them in the comments. Let's have a healthy discussion there. Thank you for watching until the end. Stay in peace. And as usual, what do you think?