Martin Luther
In October 1517, Luther wrote his 95 Theses. Many people think that he put them on the door of a church in Wittenberg, but no one said so at the time and so that may be a myth. Instead, he published a copy and presented it to church officials at Worms Cathedral. Luther called it The Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences. It questioned the teaching of the Western Church, its ideas about penance, the authority of the Pope, and the usefulness of "indulgences." The Catholic Church was selling indulgences to get out of purgatory and to go right to heaven after death. Indulgences were sold for money for the dead so that they could go to heaven faster. Poor people could not be able to go to heaven as quickly, but the priests in the church could be rich from selling them. Luther thought that all of that was wrong and against the Bible.