§ 21. Some have taught that there is no authority among Christians, and that there should be none.
§ 22. Some have taught that mere faith alone, without love and good deeds, saves, and they have [accordingly] condemned all good works.
§ 23. Some have completely destroyed the monasteries, parish churches, and altars.
§ 24. Some have abolished or diminished the venerable Christian ceremonies and practices concerning the remembrance of the life, suffering, death, and accomplishment of Christ Our Savior, which have been performed until now in the monasteries, parish churches, and chapels for the admonition and edification of the Christian people. And they have established other, un-Christian ordinances according to their own will, ability, and taste.
[ . . . ]
§ 26. Some rulers have forbidden their subjects on pain of severe punishment to listen, either in their villages or elsewhere, to preachers of the old, correct, true faith, to attend sermons or worships, or to confess the old faith. If the people do not obey, they are always punished.
[ . . . ]
§ 28. Some have taken the properties of the monasteries, other foundations, and vacant benefices for their own purposes. [ . . . ]
§ 29. Some have expelled the provosts, confessors, preachers, and other Christian overseers from the women's convents, and have introduced their own seducing preachers, confessors, and teachers in their places.
[ . . . ]
§ 31. Some have allowed the disuse, complete or partial, of the men's and women's convents, foundations, and other benefices, including the Mass stipends for the dead, which were established by many of Our ancestors of holy and just reputation, including Roman emperors, kings, princes, and other eminent estates. The religious (6) are allowed to leave their houses if they wish, without permission from the officers of their orders, and to enter into what is alleged to be marriage or some other temporal estate. The abbots and abbesses are not permitted to prevent this. Some religious, both men and women, have been forced to renounce the monasteries and their properties permanently. They are also forced to confess that their monastic life was un-Christian and diabolical.
[ . . . ]
§ 33. Some orders have been forbidden to receive those who wish to join them or to receive vows of profession or obedience from such recruits.
§ 34. Some have removed their children and friends from the monasteries by force and against their will.
§ 35. Some have appointed priests to parishes and other benefices, or have taken them away, as and when they wished and without [in the case of appointments] presenting them to the bishops, who (by law) are to examine and invest them. [ . . . ] Moreover, pastors and preachers who interpret the godly Word and the Scripture according to their own pleasure and against all the Imperial Recesses are installed and tolerated. [ . . . ]
(6) The “religious” is medieval Catholic usage for regular clergy, that is, persons who live as members of religious orders in constituted communities – trans.
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