What were the causes and results of the Reformation?

One of the long term causes of the Reformation Movement was corruption in the Church. The thing about papal indulgences was part of it. The Roman Catholic Church considered Mary to be like a deity since Pope Pius the 9th. When you see references to an "immaculate birth," it is not the birth of Christ in question, but the birth of Mary. She supposedly was so flawless that she had so much goodness left over. So when someone sins, they could supposedly borrow some of her righteousness. Now, do you see the possibility of a scam in this? All you would have to do in that environment is to sell "sin passes." So do what you want, and if the Church doesn't like it, you buy a sin pass from them. That is basically what papal indulgences were all about. This notion of purchasing righteousness made the Church seem like a joke.

Another part of the Reformation was when people got tired of not having a Bible in their own language. Supposedly, that was only the domain of learned scholars who were ordained into the clergy, and the common people had to take their Word for it. The people wanted to read and study for themselves. The Church basically had some of the translators killed. Wycliffe was one of those. He translated a lot and was put to death for it. However, King James later ordered that The Bible be translated into English, and Wycliffe's previous work made up a large portion of the final work.