Because Luther believed that a person may be saved only on the basis of their faith, he began to criticize the self-indulgent practices that were prevalent within the Catholic Church. Not only did he have a problem with the extravagant spending of the church, but he also had a problem with the idea that people could buy indulgences for themselves.

He was of the opinion that the Catholic Church had the doctrine of salvation all wrong. Luther felt that humans could only be saved by faith alone, and that this was the essence of all Christian theology. He also considered that the Catholic Church of his day had gotten this concept incorrect.

Are there any conflicts between Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches?

In Ukraine and Belarus, first while those countries were under Polish domination and subsequently also in Transylvania, there have been recurrent clashes between Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians (see the Romanian Greek Catholic Church United with Rome ).

Why did the Roman Catholic Church split into two?

Before the actual separation that took place in 1054, there was a series of ecclesiastical disagreements and theological debates that took place between the Greek East and the Latin West.

What caused the breakdown of the eastern and Western Church?

The disagreement continued to be something that lay Christians in both the East and the West were mainly ignorant of. There was no one defining moment that signaled the beginning of the decline. Rather, the two churches drifted in and out of schism over the course of several centuries, with brief attempts at reconciliation interspersed throughout the process.

What caused the schism between the western and Eastern Mediterranean Christians?

The rift that developed between the Christians of the Western Mediterranean and those of the Eastern Mediterranean was caused by a number of different political, cultural, and religious events that took place over the course of several centuries.Historiographers consider the reciprocal excommunications that took place in 1054 to be the defining moment.It is difficult to come to a consensus on a date for the event that may be identified as the beginning of the schism.