At the time of the Reformation religious orders owned more than half of Europe. The serfs worked for the monks. (I can understand why my father Saint Francis forbade Franciscans to own land. For some reason the religious establishment always gets into real estate.) The Reformation was more about politics than theology. It happened because of the moral and economic corruption of so much of the Church and because the Church owned so much land. The priestly class was tied up with land and buildings in Jesus’ time too.
