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Until about 500 years ago, there was only one Christian church in western and central Europe.
People from Portugal to Poland all belonged to the Roman Catholic Church.
However, soon after the year 1500, people in many parts of Europe broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and began their own churches instead.
This was known as the Protestant Reformation.
The leader of the early Protestant movement was a German theologian named Martin Luther.
Luther believed that many of the priests of the Roman Catholic Church had become too concerned about wealth and luxury.
Also, he disapproved of some practices in the Church. One such practice was that priests allowed people to pay money to the Church in exchange for committing various sins.
Luther believed that it was wrong to allow people to buy the freedom to commit acts that were against the teachings of the Church.
Luther began to criticize the Roman Catholic Church in public, and he refused to acknowledge the authority of the Church.
He said that instead he would follow the teachings of the Bible as he understood them.
The officials of the Church declared that Luther was a heretic.
However, the local German rulers did not punish Luther.
Many of them resented the power of the Church and welcomed his ideas.
Luther and other Protestant leaders disagreed with the Church on several important issues.
The Protestants believed that priests should be allowed to marry, whereas the Roman Catholic Church believed that priests should remain celibate.
The Protestants believed that people should read the Bible for themselves, whereas the Roman Catholic Church believed that priests should interpret the Bible for the people.
During the decades that followed Luther, the Protestant movement spread throughout much of Europe.
Over time, many different Protestant churches were formed.
During this period, many wars were fought between local rulers who favoured Protestantism, and other local rulers who supported the Roman Catholic Church.
In the end, many parts of Europe became Protestant, such as Scandinavia, England, and parts of Germany, Holland, and Switzerland.
However, the people and rulers of many other areas of Europe preferred to remain in the Roman Catholic Church.
These areas included most of southern Europe, as well as Poland and Ireland.
The Roman Catholic Church changed a few of its practices in response to Protestant criticism, but kept its most important beliefs.
In recent times, relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the various Protestant churches have become much more friendly.
Some discussions have been held between Catholic and Protestant officials, in order to resolve some of their disagreements.
大约500年前，西欧和中欧只有一个基督教教会。从葡萄牙到波兰的人们都属于罗马天主教会。然而，在1500年之后不久，欧洲许多地方的人们脱离了罗马天主教会，开始建立自己的教会。这就是所谓的宗教改革。早期新教运动的领导者是一位名叫马丁·路德的德国神学家。路德认为，罗马天主教会的许多神父过于关注财富和奢侈。此外，他也不赞成教会中的一些做法。其中一种做法是，神父允许人们向教会支付金钱，以换取犯下各种罪行。路德认为，允许人们花钱购买犯下违背教会教义的行为的自由是错误的。路德开始公开批评罗马天主教会，并拒绝承认教会的权威。他说，他将遵循他所理解的圣经教义。教会官员宣布路德是异端。然而，当地的德国统治者并没有惩罚路德。他们中的许多人对教会的权力感到不满，并欢迎他的想法。路德和其他新教领袖在几个重要问题上与教会存在分歧。新教徒认为，神父应该被允许结婚，而罗马天主教会认为，神父应该保持独身。新教徒认为，人们应该自己阅读圣经，而罗马天主教会认为，神父应该为人们解释圣经。在路德之后的几十年里，新教运动蔓延到欧洲大部分地区。随着时间的推移，形成了许多不同的新教教会。在此期间，支持新教的当地统治者和支持罗马天主教会的其他当地统治者之间爆发了许多战争。最终，欧洲的许多地区变成了新教，如斯堪的纳维亚半岛、英国以及德国、荷兰和瑞士的部分地区。然而，欧洲许多其他地区的人民和统治者更愿意留在罗马天主教会。这些地区包括南欧的大部分地区，以及波兰和爱尔兰。罗马天主教会改变了一些做法以回应新教的批评，但保留了其最重要的信仰。近年来，罗马天主教会和各种新教教会之间的关系变得更加友好。天主教和新教官员之间举行了一些讨论，以解决他们的一些分歧。